Some 269 Catholic priests died of
COVID-19 in Italy over the last year, religious news agency SIR
said Thursday.
The most hard hit regions were those in the north of Italy which
accounted for 78% of the priests' deaths and Lombardy in
particular with 88 deaths, 33% of the total.
Some 742 priests died of all causes in 2019, before the pandemic
hit, while last year the total rose to 958, an increase of 30%,
said SIR, which is an organ of the Italian Bishops Conference
(CEI).
The epidemic almost cancelled out the generational change due to
new ordinations, which were 299 last year, SIR said.
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