As the IARJ’s co-managing director, based in Italy, Elisa Di Benedetto reports on the Vatican’s leading role in trying to motivate faith-related institutions and communities around the world to focus on the global crisis in caregiving for the world’s elderly.

Many of us at the IARJ are directly affected by the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. We are publishing this sample of spiritual wisdom we have collected from around the world as a way to encourage all journalists to report on this vital theme in the crisis. At their best, religious leaders around the world can inspire billions of families to cope with the anxiety and to remain compassionate toward their neighbors.

What happens when well-known speakers are brought together to fill an auditorium to discuss the compatibility of religion and science? Too often a circus in which performers with extremist views entertain an audience by affirming their prejudices, and widening a perilous gulf. What happens when you bring together respected social scientists who for many years have gathered significant data on the relationship between science and religion? A humble dialogue offering new pathways to cooperative efforts on issues from evolution and climate change to eradicating disease.