John Leicester

French police are investigating an allegation that the former archbishop of Paris sexually assaulted a woman who is under legal protection as a vulnerable person, prosecutors said Jan. 4.

A sexual assault trial for the Vatican's former ambassador to France went ahead without him Nov. 10 after he produced a doctor's note saying it was too dangerous for him to travel from Rome to Paris in the midst of France's resurgent coronavirus epidemic.

Italy mulled imposing even tighter restrictions on daily life and announced billions in financial relief March 11 to cushion economic shocks from the coronavirus, its latest efforts to adjust to the fast-evolving health crisis that also silenced the usually bustling heart of the Catholic faith, St. Peter’s Square.