Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- Kenyan authorities charged Fr. Richard Onyango Oduor, a Catholic priest based in Rome, with “negligently spreading an infectious disease” after he allegedly disregarded quarantine regulations and distributed the Eucharist to several individuals following his arrival in Kenya from Italy.
- Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, on a podcast appearance, claimed that abortion is a “life-sustaining” and a “fundamental” health care procedure that must remain available during the COVID-19 pandemic despite Michigan halting the performance of all elective surgeries.
- A coalition of twenty faith groups urged prison officials to assist all prisoners’ religious needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that accommodating prisoners’ religious practice, under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, is more critical than ever.
- President Trump discussed with various Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faith representatives a phased-in return to broader in-person worship after weeks of religious services shifting online in response to COVID-19.
- Ukraine’s two Orthodox churches clashed last week over public health guidelines for Orthodox Easter celebrations, after Metropolitan Onufriy, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said parishioners could gather outside places of worship despite a government ban on public gatherings due to COVID-19.
- The Congregation for the Eastern Churches, a Vatican Congregation, is donating medical supplies to Syria, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem as COVID-19 spreads across the Middle East.