Canada’s ban on travel from southern Africa and the failure of rich countries to effectively share COVID-19 vaccines with the rest of the world has Jesuit Fr. Charles Chilufya steaming mad.

Today, I phoned to book a haircut only to find that Pat, my stylist of the past two years, had died of the delta variant of COVID. When I last saw him in late August, he looked fit and healthy as ever. I phoned back a month later to set my next haircut appointment but was told Pat was off work because he was having back problems. He died shortly after that call.

Over 19 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, all 225 parishes of the Archdiocese of Toronto have deftly avoided being an outbreak zone for the virus.

While the vast majority of the public has been compliant with safety measures in dealing with the pandemic, resistance to vaccination mandates, mask rules and other requirements has been high among ultra-conservative Catholic and evangelical groups.

The union representing Ontario’s Catholic teachers is endorsing calls to authorize COVID vaccinations for kids between five and 11, a move that seems to have the support of the majority of Canadians as well.

The message across the country for parishioners, volunteers and staff at Catholic churches is clear: please get vaccinated.

VATICAN CITY -- Three members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard have hung up their halberds rather than be vaccinated against COVID-19, and three others were temporarily suspended in early October as they were completing the vaccination cycle, the spokesman for the guards told a Swiss newspaper.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel deeply uneasy about a minister of the Crown effectively usurping the role of a minister of the Church?

The Archbishop of Moncton has backtracked on his vaccination policy, eliminating the need to for parishioners to provided proof of vaccination for Masses, baptisms and prayer groups.

VATICAN CITY -- Visitors, tourists and employees who want to enter Vatican territory will be required beginning Oct. 1 to show proof of vaccination, recovery from the coronavirus or a negative COVID-19 test.

The Government of Ontario has not tipped its hand yet if it will institute mandatory vaccinations for teachers and staff, but education unions are trying to persuade Premier Doug Ford to make that choice.

“My body, my choice. No one is going to tell me what to do with my body.”

WASHINGTON -- There are large differences between religious groups in the United States in their attitudes toward getting the COVID-19 vaccine for themselves or for their children, according to a poll released Aug. 5 by the Public Religion Research Institute.

As of July 26 the City of Toronto has jabbed its citizens in the arm 4.3 million times. Provincially, 89.5 per cent of the eligible population of Ontario has been at least partially vaccinated. Globally, 3.5 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed.

After a year of Zoom classes, Catholic colleges and universities across Canada are more than hoping for a fresh, in-person start this fall. As vaccinations roll out, they’re planning for it.