Mary Maguire, from Letterkenny, said she got ‘such a shock’ after being asked to take part in the former pope’s requiem Mass.

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Pope Francis is to halt his public general audiences and limit participation at Christmas and other upcoming Masses amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Italy and the Vatican.

Pope Francis’ decision to forgo wearing a mask has been noticed, with some concern, by the commission of Vatican experts he appointed to help chart the Catholic Church’s path through the coronavirus pandemic.