Unable to invite Rome’s priests to mark Holy Thursday in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis thanked all priests for their service and called those who died ministering to the sick and health care workers part of the community of “saints next door.”

Pope Francis has established a new “Study Commission on the Female Diaconate” as a follow-up to a previous group that studied the history of women deacons in the New Testament and the early Christian communities.

With a small procession down the vast and empty central nave of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis began the first of a series of Holy Week liturgies celebrated without the presence of the faithful from the general public.

Pope Francis offered his early morning Mass for vulnerable people and health care workers who live in fear that they or their loved ones may fall ill to the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world.

In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis said he will give an extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) at 6 p.m. Rome time March 27.

“By the mandate of the supreme pontiff for the year 2020 only,” the congregation issued guidelines March 20 for celebrating the Triduum and Easter liturgies without the presence of the faithful.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the daily lives and routines of millions of people have been turned upside down, Pope Francis said, but they must help each other stay firm in faith.

People must use this time of the coronavirus pandemic to rediscover the importance of small, concrete gestures of affection and care toward others, Pope Francis said in a new interview.

Pope Francis asked people to pray for all victims of COVID-19, including the health care workers who sacrificed their lives caring for others.

With Italy on lockdown and Rome streets almost deserted, Pope Francis left the Vatican March 15 in a mini-pilgrimage to an icon and to a crucifix associated with miraculous interventions to save the city and its people.