Vatican: Latest News

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09.11.2020 / 13:08

McCarrick: What's known about the abusive US ex-cardinal

ROME – The Vatican on Tuesday will release its report into the rise and fall of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-influential American cardinal who was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation confirmed decades of rumors that he was a sexual predator.The McCarrick scandal is different from other cases of clergy abuse, primarily because there is evidence that Vatican and U.S. church leaders knew of his penchant for bedding seminarians but turned a blind eye as McCarrick rose to the top of the U.S.

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Pope moves against secretariat of state amid finance scandal

ROME – Pope Francis has given the Vatican secretariat of state three months to transfer all of its financial holdings to another Vatican office following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation.Francis summoned the secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, his deputy as well as the Vatican’s top finance officials for a meeting Wednesday and gave them a three-month deadline to complete the transfer, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.The Vatican released the letter that Francis wrote to Parolin on Aug. 25 in which he announced he was stripping the secretariat of state of its ability to independently manage the money.

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Pope returns to private library for audience as coronavirus surges

ROME – Pope Francis urged people to follow recommendations from governments and health authorities to prevent coronavirus infections as he returned to his private library for his Wednesday general audience amid a surge of infections in Europe.In another sign that the Vatican was reentering a semi-lockdown mode again, the Holy See announced that it was shuttering the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel to the public until at least Dec.

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Maskless pope blames ‘this lady called COVID’ for distance

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has blamed “this lady called COVID” for forcing him to keep his distance again from the faithful during his general audience, which was far smaller than usual amid soaring coronavirus infections in Italy.Francis again eschewed a protective mask Wednesday even when he greeted a few maskless clergymen at the end of his audience. While the prelates wore masks throughout the hour-long audience, they took them off when they lined up to shake Francis’ hand and speak briefly with him one-on-one.A Vatican official who is a key member of Francis’ COVID-19 response commission, the Rev.

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Masked pope, faith leaders pray for peace and pandemic's end

ROME – A masked Pope Francis welcomed religious leaders to a socially-distanced interfaith peace prayer Tuesday, appealing for a unified international effort to work for peace and an end to the coronavirus pandemic.Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh and Hindu leaders stood for a minute of silence to pray for all the victims of COVID-19 and a universally available vaccine, as the sun set on the piazza overlooking the Roman Forum. “The pandemic is reminding us that we are blood brothers and sisters,” they said in a joint appeal issued at the end of the service.For weeks, Francis has shunned facemasks in his public and private audiences despite a surge in COVID-19 cases across Italy and even inside Vatican City.

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Covid-19 case in Pope's Vatican residence

A man living in the same Vatican residence as Pope Francis has tested positive for Covid-19 and gone into isolation, the Vatican has revealed.

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Pope apologizes for keeping distance as virus cases spike

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis apologized to the faithful Wednesday for not being able to greet them and shake their hands as Italy posted a record spike in coronavirus infections that is threatening to once again spiral out of control.Instead of wading into the crowd to embrace the sick and kiss babies during his weekly general audience Wednesday, Francis walked in through a back door directly onto the stage to begin his catechism lesson. At 83 and with part of a lung removed when he was in his 20s due to illness, the pope would be at high-risk for COVID-19 complications.

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Vatican trial for sex abuse in pope's youth seminary opens

VATICAN CITY – A trial opened Wednesday in the Vatican’s criminal tribunal for two priests, one accused of sexually abusing an altar boy in the Vatican’s youth seminary and the other of covering it up.The charges read aloud in the courtroom marked the first time the Vatican had publicly detailed its case against the two men, one of whom was himself a young seminarian at the time of the alleged abuse, 2007-2012, while the other was the then-seminary rector.The case concerns the closed world of the St. Pius X youth seminary, a palazzo inside the Vatican walls just across the street from where Pope Francis lives and the criminal tribunal itself.

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4 Swiss Guards test positive as COVID-19 penetrates Vatican

ROME – Four Swiss Guards have tested positive for coronavirus and were showing symptoms, the Vatican said Monday, as the surge in infections in surrounding Italy penetrates the Vatican walls.The Swiss Guards, the world’s oldest standing army, provide ceremonial guard duty during papal Masses, man the Vatican gates and help protect the 83-year-old Pope Francis.The four are in isolation while their contacts are being traced, the Vatican said Monday. They join three other Vatican residents who tested positive in recent weeks plus the dozen or so Holy See officials who tested positive during the first wave of the outbreak.Despite the positive cases among his own guards, Francis on Monday was seen once again without a mask.

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Pope in TED talk: Earth cannot be squeezed 'like an orange’

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Saturday issued an urgent call to action to defend the planet and help the poor in his second TED talk. The pontiff, known for his affinity for social media and technology, said in a videotaped message to a TED conference on climate change that the coronavirus pandemic had put a focus on the social-environmental challenge facing the globe.

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Cardinal Pell accuser denies bribe as Vatican intrigue grows

VATICAN CITY – An Australian man who accused Cardinal George Pell of sexually abusing him denied Monday he was bribed for his testimony, shooting down the latest conspiracy theory to roil the Vatican amid a corruption investigation into its shady finances.Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has speculated in recent days that Vatican investigators were looking into whether Pell’s nemesis at the Vatican, ousted Cardinal Angelo Becciu, wired 700,000 euros ($823,000) in Vatican money to a bank account in Australia, and whether that money was tied to Pell’s sex abuse trial.Pell, brought in by Pope Francis to bring accountability and transparency to the Vatican’s opaque finances, was convicted but ultimately absolved by Australia's High Court

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Pompeo pledges US engagement on the Balkans

DUBROVNIK – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged Friday that Washington will remain engaged in the Balkans where China and Russia have been gaining political and economic influence.Pompeo spoke in the Croatian Adriatic Sea resort of Dubrovnik, the last leg of his European tour that also included stops in Greece, Italy and the Vatican.“The United States no longer leads from behind,’’ Pompeo told reporters at a news conference held on the terrace of a hotel overlooking the medieval walled city.

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Vatican releases financial, budget data amid scandal

ROME – The Vatican released a detailed budget, balance sheet and earning statement for the first time ever Thursday as it seeks to reassure Catholics amid a corruption scandal that has exposed its shoddy financial management.The data marked the first time since 2016 that the Vatican has released any information about its finances, despite pledges by Pope Francis from the start of his pontificate in 2013 to be more transparent and accountable.The data showed that the Vatican bureaucracy had narrowed its deficit to 11 million euros from 75 million euros in 2018, despite a continued fall in donations from dioceses and individuals alike.But more than the earnings statement, the consolidated report provided the first-known publicly released

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Pompeo meets with Vatican after US-China tensions spill over

ROME – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Thursday at the Vatican to meet with top Holy See officials, a day after tensions over American opposition to the Vatican’s China policy spilled out in public.Pompeo was meeting with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

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European evaluators visit Vatican mired in financial scandal

ROME – European anti-money laundering evaluators began a periodic visit to the Vatican on Wednesday amid a mounting financial scandal in the tiny city state that has cost a half-dozen people their jobs, including one of the Holy See’s most powerful cardinals.For the next two weeks, the Council of Europe’s Moneyval team will be checking the Vatican’s compliance with international norms to fight money laundering and terror financing.

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Report: Cardinal Pell returning to Vatican in crisis

CANBERRA – Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ former finance minister, will soon return to the Vatican during an extraordinary economic scandal for the first time since he was cleared of child abuse allegations in Australia five months ago, a newspaper reported Monday.Pell will fly back to Rome on Tuesday, Herald-Sun newspaper columnist Andrew Bolt wrote.

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Vatican cardinal pushes back after pope fires him in scandal

ROME – The financial scandal that toppled Cardinal Angelo Becciu, one of the Vatican's most powerful officials, mounted Friday with evidence that he directed hundreds of thousands of euros of Vatican and Italian church funds to a charity controlled by his brother.But Becciu denied he did anything wrong, much less criminal, during an extraordinary news conference, a day after Pope Francis fired him and yanked his rights and privileges as a cardinal.

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Pope seeks to ''liberate" Virgin Mary from the Mafia

ROME – Pope Francis is giving his blessing to a new Vatican think tank that is seeking to prevent the Mafia and organized crime groups from exploiting the image of the Virgin Mary for their own illicit ends.The Vatican’s Pontifical Marian Academy launched the think tank Friday at a conference entitled “Liberating Mary from the Mafia.” It was a reference to the historic relationship between the Italian mob and the Catholic Church, and the popular displays of Marian devotion by mobsters in Italy and beyond.

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Pope Francis appears in public despite close cardinal testing positive for coronavirus

coronavirus.

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What's in a name? At the Vatican, a debate on inclusiveness

ROME – The Vatican responded Wednesday to criticism that the title of Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on the post-COVID world is sexist, saying the document, “Fratelli Tutti,” ("Brothers All") in no way excludes women.In Italian, “fratelli” means brothers but it is also used as the inclusive, brothers and sisters. Since Francis takes pains to always address crowds as “fratelli e sorelle” (“brothers and sisters”) the absence of an explicit reference to sisters in the title was seen by some as another expression of exclusion in an institution long criticized for treating women as second-class citizens.On Wednesday, the Vatican’s editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, stressed that the title was taken from the words of St.

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Pope Francis brands gossiping 'a worse plague than coronavirus' in bizarre sermon

The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inboxPope Francis has claimed that gossiping is a “plague worse than Covid” that is seeking to divide the church.In a bizarre sermon on Sunday the head of the church strayed from his pre-planned text to complain about gossip.Francis used his weekly blessing to go on, at some length, about whispers within church communities and the Vatican.Without going into specifics, he said the devil is “the biggest gossiper” who is seeking to divide the church with lies.The Pope told worshippers: “Please, brothers and sisters, let's make an effort not to gossip. Gossiping is a worse plague than COVID.

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Pope: Gossiping is 'plague worse than COVID'

Pope Francis said Sunday that gossiping is a “plague worse than COVID" that is seeking to divide the Catholic Church.Francis strayed from his prepared text to double down on his frequent complaint about gossiping within church communities and even within the Vatican bureaucracy. Francis didn’t give specifics during his weekly blessing, but went on at some length to say the devil is the “biggest gossiper" who is seeking to divide the church with his lies.“Please brothers and sisters, let’s try to not gossip," he said.

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Pope set to make first trip since pandemic to saint's town

VATICAN CITY : Pope Francis is next month set to make what would be his first visit outside Rome since Italy was put under lockdown in early March when it became the first country in Europe to feel the full brunt of the coronavirus pandemic.The pope is to journey to Assisi, the birthplace in the central Italian region of Umbria of his namesake saint, to sign an authoritative papal letter to clergy and faithful worldwide — a document known as an encyclical, the Vatican said Saturday.The encyclical is expected to stress the value of brotherly relations during and after the pandemic, a theme Francis evoked repeatedly during the pandemic.

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Coronavirus: Here’s what happens when a pandemic locks down a globe-trotting pope

coronavirus fatalities, Pope Francis emerged from lockdown to offer an extraordinary prayer and plea to his flock to reassess their priorities, arguing the virus had proved they needed one another.Francis’ words from the rain-slicked promenade of St.

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What happens when Covid-19 pandemic locks down a globe-trotting pope?

COVID-19 emergency and a sustained season of opposition from his conservative critics: He was utterly alone before an invisible enemy, preaching to a hauntingly empty piazza.During the virus crisis, Francis has become a 21st century “prisoner of the Vatican," as one of his predecessors was once known, robbed of the crowds, foreign travel and visits to the peripheries that so defined and popularized his papacy. He will resume physical contact with his flock this week with revived Wednesday general audiences, but the meetings will be held in an internal Vatican courtyard before a limited crowd rather than the vast St.

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Michigan convent sees 13 nuns die of coronavirus: 'It was very frightening'

LIVONIA, Mich. - Thirteen Roman Catholic nuns from the same Michigan convent died from the coronavirus in a deadly wave that claimed 12 in just one month.The nuns, ages 69 to 99, lived together across three floors at the Felician Sisters' convent in Livonia. They included teachers, an author and a secretary in the Vatican Secretariat of State, according to the Global Sisters Report, an outlet of the National Catholic Reporter publishing company."I first heard two aides had contracted the virus," Sister Mary Andrew Budinski, the superior of the convent, told Global Sisters Report.

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Vatican says bishops should report sex abuse to police

Pope Francis leads Mass for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in the Vatican Basilica on June 29, 2020 in Vatican City, Vatican. On July 16, the Vatican said that bishops should report cases of clergy sex crimes to police even when they are not VATICAN CITY - The Vatican told bishops around the world on Thursday they should report cases of clergy sex crimes to police even when not legally bound to do so, in its latest effort to compel church leaders to protect minors from predator priests.The Vatican issued a long-awaited manual for bishops and religious superiors on conducting in-house investigations into allegations of priests who rape and molest minors and vulnerable adults.

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Pope Francis compares priests who defied pandemic safety measures to 'adolescents'

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis praised the “heroic service” of health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic, but also took a dig at some conservative priests who defied safety measures — calling their complaints over church closures “adolescent.”The pope made his comments June 20 at the Vatican while thanking doctors and nurses from the northern Italian region of Lombardy, which was the hardest-hit region in the one-time European epicenter of the pandemic.Lombardy has counted more than 92,000 of Italy’s 238,000 COVID-19 infections, and half of the country’s 34,600 death toll.RELATED: CoronavirusNOW.com, FOX launches national hub for COVID-19 news and updatesThe pope noted that most priests were “obedient and creative” in remaining close

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Cardinal Pell to publish prison diary musing on case, church

ROME – Cardinal George Pell, the former Vatican finance minister who was convicted and then acquitted of sexual abuse in his native Australia, is set to publish his prison diary musing on life in solitary confinement, the Catholic Church, politics and sports.Catholic publisher Ignatius Press told The Associated Press on Saturday the first installment of the 1,000-page diary would likely be published in Spring 2021. “I’ve read half so far, and it is wonderful reading,” Ignatius' editor, the Rev.

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Pope Francis urges aid to migrants and end to Libya fighting

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Sunday urged political and military leaders in Libya to end their hostilities and called on the international community to take “to heart” the plight of migrants trapped in the lawless nation.During his weekly blessing overlooking St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff called for “an end to the violence” and a path toward “peace, stability and unity’’ in the country.He said thousands of migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people are “more vulnerable to forms of exploitation and violence.”“There is cruelty,” the pope said, departing from prepared remarks.

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US cardinal at Vatican prays for Floyd, and America's future

ROME – The highest-ranking American cardinal at the Vatican on Friday deplored the “unjust” killing of George Floyd, saying it laid bare that the Christian principles of the U.S. Constitution aren’t being applied to black people.Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who heads the Vatican’s laity office, told The Associated Press that the brutality of what happened to Floyd after his arrest in Minneapolis was so unreal it seemed like a movie.

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'Welcome Back!' Several famed museums reopen across Europe

AMSTERDAM – In the Netherlands, the intimate gaze of the Girl with the Pearl Earring can once again startle and entice visitors. Down in Spain, the rusty maze of steel sheets by Richard Serra is a wonderland anew for art lovers. And at the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo's Creation of Adam can drop jaws like it has done for ages.

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Vatican centralizes contracting to cut waste, corruption

ROME – Gone are the days of the half-million euro Christmas Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square.

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US priest who founded Knights of Columbus to be beatified

VATICAN CITY – The founder of the Knights of Columbus, the influential U.S.-based lay Catholic organization, is moving a step closer to possible sainthood.

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The public returned to St Peter's Square in the Vatican today to receive Pope Francis's blessing

The public returned to St Peter's Square in the Vatican today to receive Pope Francis's blessing from his window for the first time in nearly three months as he convoked a year of reflection on the environment.

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Priest blessing parishioners with water pistol

A Catholic priest in the US is using a water pistol in a bid to maintain social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Italy opens churches as virus rules dictate how to eat, pray

VATICAN CITY – Italy and the Vatican opened a new phase in the virus crisis Monday, with churches resuming public Masses after a sharp confrontation between the Italian church and state over limits on worshipping in the era of COVID-19.

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St John Paul II honored as Poland sees new abuse allegations

WARSAW – St. John Paul II was honored on the centennial of his birth with special Masses at the Vatican and in his native Poland on Monday, an anniversary that comes as the Polish church finds itself shaken by new allegations of sexual abuse by clerics.

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St Peter's Basilica in Rome reopens to visitors today

Saint Peter's Basilica reopens to visitors today, marking a relative return to normality at the Vatican and beyond in Italy, where most business activity is set to resume.

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Vatican cardinal in row over claim that virus hurts religion

ROME – A petition signed by some conservative Catholics claiming the coronavirus is an overhyped “pretext" to deprive the faithful of Mass and impose a new world order has run into a hitch.

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The Latest: Pope singles out funeral home workers for prayer

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

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Coronavirus outbreak: Pope calls for global solidarity after COVID-19 pandemic, warns ‘selfish indifference’ worse than virus

Pope Francis called on Sunday for global solidarity after the COVID-19 crisis, saying “the pandemic reminds us that there are no differences or borders between those who suffer” and that excluding sectors of society from the recovery would result in “an even worse virus of selfish indifference.” The pope left the Vatican on Sunday for the first time in more than a month, holding Mass in an almost empty church.

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Pope Francis dreams of post coronavirus world without inequalities

Pope Francis is urging the faithful to use the coronavirus pandemic’s “time of trial” to prepare for a future where inequalities are abolished and the poorest are no longer left behind.

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Pope dreams of post-virus world where inequalities abolished

ROME – Pope Francis is urging the faithful to use the coronavirus pandemic's “time of trial” to prepare for a future where inequalities are abolished and the poorest are no longer left behind.

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Virus fears keep Orthodox Easter worshippers at home

More than 260 million Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter Sunday, with church leaders asking worshippers to stay at home to avoid spreading Covid-19.

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Pope’s holy water booze joke video censored by Vatican after meeting Brit students

Footage of Pope Francis holding up a bottle of Scotch and calling it “the real water of life” after being gifted it by Scot students was cut by Vatican censors.

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Watch: How Pope marked 'Easter of solitude' in coronavirus lockdown

Pope Francis broke with centuries of tradition to livestream Easter Sunday mass to those suffering in the solitude of a coronavirus lockdown that forced the world's Catholics to improvise on their holiest day.

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Coronavirus: World celebrates Easter from afar as new virus hot spots sprout

The world celebrated Easter at a distance on Sunday, with most churches closed and family gatherings cancelled amid wide-ranging coronavirus shutdowns. Huge uncertainties loomed about the outlook not just for the next few weeks but for the months ahead — with a top European Union official raising a question mark over summer vacation plans.

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United States	Cases: 46 252 513 Deaths: 750 423 Recovered: 0
India	Cases: 34 321 025 Deaths: 459 652 Recovered: 0
Brazil	Cases: 21 835 785 Deaths: 608 235 Recovered: 0
United Kingdom	Cases: 9 215 683 Deaths: 141 607 Recovered: 0
Russia	Cases: 8 494 589 Deaths: 237 619 Recovered: 0