Today Pope Francis held his first public audience in six months and spoke some very important words: that all of us need the immediacy of personal contact, which does our souls great good, and that we should pray that the pandemic does not become a pretex

Today Pope Francis held his first public audience in six months and spoke some very important words: that all of us need the immediacy of personal contact, which does our souls great good, and that we should pray that the pandemic does not become a pretext for dividing humanity but instead promotes unity and solidarity. “We are all connected to one another, for good and for ill. And we must emerge from this crisis better.” From 2 September, open papal audiences will once again be held regularly, though at first not in St Peter's Square or the Paul VI Hall, as before, but in front of the Apostolic Palace, in the Courtyard of St Damasus, which can be reached through the bronze doors hidden in the right-hand wing of the colonnade in St Peter's Square. The gates of the Apostolic Palace will be open to all; one need only pass through a sanitary checkpoint, where temperatures are taken and masks inspected. The courtyard is to be laid out with seating arranged to observe social distancing.