As the world begins to stir from its pandemic hibernation, governments face the important question of how to accommodate houses of worship. At least, we hope they realize the question is important.

We tend to think of the planet as a patchwork of nations and continents, but it is really a single tapestry in which everything and everyone is intertwined. The COVID-19 pandemic is tragic evidence of that, but the new coronavirus only illuminates a lesson taught to us already.

Medical experts worldwide are racing to create a COVID-19 vaccine. Of course, these efforts should be encouraged and well funded because normal life won’t return until an effective vaccine is developed and distributed around the world.

Before reading this editorial, take a few seconds to return to the cover of this week’s issue. That tender scene of a senior in long-term care reaching out but not touching a loved one is happening daily across Canada.

It’s not every day the Pope is thankful to be “scolded” by one of his bishops but, of course, these are not ordinary days.

Among the lessons driven home by the COVID-19 crisis is that people and societies are morally bound to care for one another. This care is accomplished in many ways but one gaining wide attention, including encouragement from Pope Francis, is the potential merit of paying everyone a state-guaranteed income.

Among the many stories of illness and death wrought by COVID-19 comes the tragic case of Jean Truchon.

It was wet and dreary in an empty St. Peter’s Square March 27 as Pope Francis bestowed on Rome and the world an extraordinary blessing in these extraordinary times. But he defied the gloom of COVID-19 with a much-needed testament of hope amid this crisis, a hope conferred on us by the risen Lord that comforts us in hard times and which we celebrate with particular joy at Easter.

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing society to take a hard look at what is essential and what is optional or even superfluous in our daily lives. In some respects, this material downsizing is a secular version of the spiritual exercise Catholics embrace every year at Lent.

School closures, business disruptions, stock market panic, grocery hoarding and widespread cancellations of Sunday Masses. Few if any of us have seen anything like this.