VATICAN CITY. Oltretevere there is the first case of positivity to Covid-19 for a Vatican “minister”. Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and president of Caritas Internationalis, a close collaborator of Pope Francis, is infected and asymptomatic: this is confirmed by the outcome of the “throat swab carried out yesterday upon his arrival in Manila” as a standard procedure. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, explains.
The issue also took on very delicate contours, frightening the high prelates in the Sacred Palaces, because Tagle, 63, archbishop of Manila until last year, was received in audience by the Pontiff on 29 August. The Vatican does not report directly on a possible test for the Pope, but the spokesman communicates that “on 7 September Tagle had already undergone a swab in Rome, with negative results”. It is therefore probable that the infection has occurred in the last few days in the capital. Now “he will remain in fiduciary isolation in the Philippines”. In the meantime “we are proceeding with the necessary checks among those who have come into contact with His Eminence in recent days”. The ecclesiastical health authorities are reconstructing and sifting through the talks held in Rome, both at Propaganda Fide (seat of the Congregation) and in the Philippine Pontifical College, where he is staying.
Although still one of the youngest of the College of Cardinals, Tagle is among the most prominent and rising prelates, chosen by Bergoglio to lead the powerful missionary Dicastery whose president was nicknamed “the red Pope”.
Meanwhile Bergoglio, even in the midst of the pandemic, surrounded by a sort of discreet “security cordon”, and respecting the protocols, continues to work and to hold private and, when possible, public meetings. Last Wednesday, for the first time he appeared with the mask, upon his arrival at the general audience. A white device, probably the classic surgical mask. Having never seen Bergoglio with anti-Covid protection, there were those who doubted that he used it. Instead, he drove to the San Damaso courtyard with the protection correctly worn over his nose and mouth, then he took it off for the time of the hearing. He also sanitized his hands with gel, and tried not without difficulty to keep his distance during the long and affectionate greetings of the faithful. And noticing some gatherings, he vigorously recommended: “Do not pile up, for everyone there is his chair to avoid contagions”. The Pontiff, while smiling, stepped back several times, explaining that he could not shake hands with the people leaning against the barriers. But he accepted the gifts and also wore the donated skullcaps. After his intervention, he got into the car to return to Casa Santa Marta. After putting the mask back on.
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