Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement that he was “able to confirm that within the vaccine program of the Vatican City State, to this date the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus.”
The statement did not say when 84-year-old Pope Francis or his 93-year-old predecessor were inoculated. Vatican City began its vaccine program on Wednesday in a medical center set-up inside its main Auditorium Hall, where the pontiff often holds his weekly audiences. Both men are at higher risk of contracting the virus because of their age.
“I believe that ethically everyone should take the vaccine. It is not an option, it is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others,” the pontiff said in an interview with Italy’s Canale 5 channel broadcast on Sunday night.
“I beg all those in charge of states, of companies, of international bodies … to promote cooperation and not competition and to seek a solution for everyone, vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable and needy in all regions of the globe,” the Pope said during his traditional Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) message at the Vatican.
On Saturday, the Vatican’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano announced Francis’ personal doctor, Fabrizio Soccorsi, had died as a result of “complications due to Covid.”
Francis chose Soccorsi as his personal doctor in 2015, the news outlet said.
Soccorsi, 78, was hospitalized in a Rome on December 26 for a previous oncological disease, according to the Italian Bishop’s Conference newspaper Avvenire. It’s unclear exactly when he was last in direct contact with Pope Francis.
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