ROCKFORD—“When they first announced that the public would not be present, we were still hoping there would still be representatives,” said Cindy Wooden, bureau chief for Catholic News Service in Rome. 

 

“That’s looking less likely,” she added. 

 

She was one of three people who send news from Rome to Rockford who spoke by Zoom to Catholic journalists in the U.S. on March 24.

 

They had already learned that taking part in Holy Week and Easter at the Vatican will be as different for  them as it will be for Catholics in the Rockford Diocese.

 

As a writer, Wooden and correspondent Junno Arocho Esteves will probably be watching whatever happens on monitors. 

 

For photographers, such as Paul Haring, it may be a matter of waiting for pool results.  Haring, senior photographer in one of four Vatican photo pools, may be allowed to attend services.

 

“The whole is thing is weird,” Wooden agreed. “Paul is physically present for most things.”

 

“Based on what I heard, the pope is coming to the loggia and he’s going to do (services) with an empty St. Peter’s,” Haring said. 

 

Recently, he said, all the pools have relied on the Vatican News Service for the photos they have been able to share. 

 

“As far as getting the news out,” Haring said, “we will.”

 

Pope Francis has reacted to the pandemic with special prayers and blessings, such as the Urbi et Orbi message he delivered March 27.

 

“I think he’s really torn (between) being a pastor and being out there and comforting people, and (at the same time) not setting a bad example,” Wooden said. 

 

“We have a pope that’s so close to people,” Arocho agreed. “I never thought I’d see the pope doing a Skype interview, but here we are. He’s trying his best to reach out to people. He’s actually speaking a lot more.”

 

On Feb. 23, as news broke of coronavirus spreading in the north of Italy, Haring was preparing to make a trip to the vicinity. His wife, he said, ordered 50 masks for the family. A nationwide quarantine was still in the future. 

 

“In the early days of this, I wasn’t wearing a mask,” Haring said. He does now when he leaves his home.

 

On March 23 the death toll in Italy had dipped to the 600s with about 6,000 deaths nationwide. When daily numbers were released on March 24, they had spiked back to the 900s and since then the nation’s total deaths have exceeded 10,000. 

 

“Right now in Rome,” Haring said, “we have a pretty intense lockdown. Police have started patrolling … for people who are out without essential reasons.”

 

Over the course of the outbreak, none of the three have seriously considered returning to the U.S.

 

“I’m actually quite impressed with the response here in Italy,” Arocho said. “It didn’t even cross my mind to go back to the States.”

 

“I’ve lived here for 30 years,” Wooden said. “This is home.” 

 

But Rome has been changing rapidly, she added. 

 

“As it’s been for us for the last two and a half weeks, and it’s starting to be for you, things change every day. The measures seem to get stricter and stricter.”

 

Initially people were able to get out to the store or the doctor, but as of last week, parks were closed, dog-walkers were limited as to how far they could go from home and her usual grocer is handing out one glove per customer to shoppers when they enter the store. 

 

“They’ve updated the form you have to fill out if you’re going to be outside,” she added.

 

Haring says the restrictions are getting hard on his children because they can’t go out to play as they normally would. His wife, he added, started homeschooling the children in November, so that part of their routine hasn’t changed much.

 

Runs on supplies have not been as prevalent in Italy as in the U.S., Wooden said. Word of the lockdown of the first 10 towns in the north came on a Saturday. Store shelves were bare by closing time. But on Monday, shelves were stocked as normal.

 

“I think that reassured people throughout the country that if the store doesn’t have something it will (have it) the next day,” she said. “I noticed at my store, any cleaning product that had the word disinfettante (disinfectant) on the label was gone. It was all back yesterday.”

 

Because shopping habits in Italy are different from the U.S., she added, that has also seemed to limit runs on items. 

 

“In Rome people don’t drive their cars to the grocery store. Buying a week’s worth of stuff was crazy for me because I’d have to carry it all home. We don’t buy the volume. Most of us don’t have refrigerators … I mean, they’re nowhere near the size of a U.S. fridge.”

 

“I think it’s a matter of just doing this lockdown not so much for yourself, Arocho said to people in the U.S. “What I heard from a lot of people who were initially dismissive about this and a lot of people were telling me ‘it’s just the flu,’ … and my comment to each of them was it’s not about you. It’s about others. In some way this virus is kind of like a virus against selfishness. Don’t be selfish ... look out for one another. That’s the thing that this virus is forcing people to do.”

 

“I think the lessons of Italy are instructive for America, and Americans should pay attention to what happened here and how rapidly things happened in just a month,” Haring said. “You can’t take too many protective measures against this virus. It’s going to involve sacrifice on some people’s parts and maybe a feeling like they’re giving up their freedom, but I think if people make sacrifices up front, it’s going to be easier later on.”