The coronavirus pandemic is changing just about everything.

That is clearest in the people who sicken, those who die, those whose lives are upended, those whose livelihood has disappeared. These are some of the direct effects of the disease.

There are many other effects not directly related to the illness that are manifesting themselves in the context of the pandemic. One major one is the proliferation of anti-scientific “theories” of the “truth” behind the scourge.

So, some people convinced that spread of the virus is aided, if not caused, by telecommunications equipment have burned internet transmission towers in the UK. An archbishop in Sri Lanka without presenting any evidence has advanced the “theory” that the virus was created by researchers.

Conspiracy theorists are working overtime to find any unreason at all that in their minds refutes what research and expertise have repeatedly demonstrated.

Other trends that had already been moving through societies at various speeds have accelerated while those societies are preoccupied. Racist and anti-democratic movements in societies and governments have advanced their objectives in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.

The Catholic Church, too, is undergoing a great change under pressure from the present situation. Some of that change was already underway but may now accelerate. It remains to be seen where it leads.

For decades, the decline in the number of priests has been obvious to us all. The answer until now has been for leaders in the Vatican, where there is a surplus of priests but a shortage of laity, to call for more prayer and sacrifice.