According to informa-tion gathered by Agenzia Fides, in 2020 20 missionaries were killed in the world: 8 priests, 1 religious man, 3 religious women, 2 semina-rians, 6 lay people. This 2020 year the highest number of missionaries killed returns to be registered in America, where 5 priests and 3 lay people were killed (8). Followed by Africa, where 1 priest, 3 religious women, 1 seminarian, 2 lay people were killed (7). In Asia 1 priest, 1 seminarian and 1 lay man. In Europe 1 priest and 1 religious man. In the last 20 years, from 2000 to 2020, 535 pastoral workers have been killed in the world, 5 of whom are Bishops.
Agenzia Fides continues its service to collect information regarding the missionaries killed during the year. We use the term “missionary” for all the baptized, aware that “in virtue of their Baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples. All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization” (EG 120). As it has been for some time, the annual list of Fides does not look only to Missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but tries to record all the baptized engaged in the life of the Church who died in a violent way, not only “in hatred of the faith.” –Agenzia Fides

Just over a year after this exit, Domenico Giani, formerly believed to be one of the most powerful people in the Vatican, has given an interview offering details as to his current career path and his thoughts on papal reform.
In the interview, published in Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian bishops, on Jan. 6, the former head of the Vatican police said that when he was first asked to enter service to the Holy See, he was told that “it was not my personal service by a vocation, a call,” which also extended to his family. Speaking of his unexpected resignation last fall, Giani said the move “caused pain” for him and his family but insisted that it did not alter his experience working in the Vatican Gendarme Corps, and nor did it take away “the gratitude for the Popes we have served: St John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.”
“I remain deeply attached to the Church and I am a man of institutions,” he said.

The Vatican on January 12 gave guidance about how priests can distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a note directing priests to say the formula for distributing the ashes once to everyone present, rather than to each person.
The priest “addresses all those present and only once says the formula as it appears in the Roman Missal, applying it to all in general: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel,’ or ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,’” the note said.
It continued: “The priest then cleanses his hands, puts on a face mask and distributes the ashes to those who come to him or, if appropriate, he goes to those who are standing in their places. The priest takes the ashes and sprinkles them on the head of each one without saying anything.”
The note was signed by the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and its secretary, Archbishop Arthur Roche.
Ash Wednesday falls on February 17 this year.
In 2020, the divine worship congregation put out various instructions for priests on administering the sacraments and offering Mass during the corona-virus pandemic, including for the celebration of Easter, which occurred when many countries were in lockdown and public liturgies were not permitted.

Moscow, December 30, Interfax – The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church moved the traditional Christmas readings from January 2021 to May in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “The participants in the meeting decided to postpone the events of the 29th International Christmas Educational Readings for the period from May 16 to 19, 2021, renaming the forum as the 29th International Educational Readings,” the final document of the Synod, which had an online meeting, said.
Thus, the annual Christmas Readings this time will take place during the Easter period.
“It is extremely difficult to hold the plenary session and most of the sectional events of the Christmas Readings in January 2021 in person if the current level of complexity of the epidemic situation remains,” the Synod said on December 8.
The topic of the upcoming Christmas Readings is articulated as “Alexander Nevsky: the West and the East, historical memory of the people,” since the 800th anniversary of the birth of the holy noble prince will be celebrated in 2021.