According to Deacon Francisco Salvador Pontes Filho, president of the National Commission of Deacons, the number of permanent deacons who died between January 1st and April 10 is almost reaching the total number of deaths reported in 2020.

A joint statement from the bishops of Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo on April 6 announced that the Sunday and Holy Day Mass obligation will be restored on Pentecost, May 23. 

Food insecurity has been an ongoing issue in the region and around the country; the number of families receiving weekly meals at Catholic Charities increased tenfold during the pandemic. Fr. John Enzler, president and CEO at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. told CNA that a looming eviction crisis will soon become a massive problem.

"Having celebrated so many ceremonies in an empty Westminster Cathedral, often with heart heavy at the strangeness of it all," writes Cardinal Vincent Nichols in his Easter reflection for Catholic Herald readers, "I so look forward to those gatherings of the Church which affirm and give life to us all."

In an attempt to combat a surge in coronavirus infections, new government restrictions have banned public meetings, including religious gatherings.

Aidan O’Neill QC, who represented Canon White in the action, said, “[The blanket ban] has a fundamental chilling impact on worship and belief. It requires people in good conscience to choose between God and Caesar.” He called it “an extraordinary abuse of the state’s power,” and welcomed the judges' decision in the matter.

Due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and the overwhelmed healthcare system, President Sagasti has announced classifications of the country’s regions into three levels, according to the severity of the pandemic: High, Very High and Extreme. In the Extreme category, churches and places of worship may not open. However, stores and shopping centers are permitted to be open at 20% capacity, and restaurants with indoor ventilation may open at 30% capacity.

Maybe Peter Wolfgang just doesn’t love freedom and Jesus enough. Still, it's fair to wonder - as he does in this piece - how much the reaction of our own tribes this past year was due to patriotism or Catholicism, and how much of it was simply that same desire to not lose control?