Two Vatican cardinals test positive for Covid-19; one hospitalised

by CNS · December 23, 2020

Cardinals Konrad Krajewski and Giuseppe Bertello. (CNS photo/Cindy Wooden); (CNS photo/Damian Avevor)

Two top Vatican officials – Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello – have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, Italian media reported, and a Vatican source confirmed.

Cardinal Krajewski, the 57-year-old papal almoner, was tested at the Vatican health clinic early Dec. 21 and was hospitalised at Rome’s Gemelli hospital with the initial signs of pneumonia.

Cardinal Bertello, the 78-year-old head of the commission governing Vatican City State, also tested positive, but was quarantining at his Vatican apartment.

People who had been in close contact with the two have been monitored, a Vatican source said Dec. 22, and neither of the cardinals attended the pope’s meeting Dec. 21 with officials of the Roman Curia.

At a meeting later that day with Vatican employees, many of whom work for the city-state, Cardinal Bertello also was absent; instead Bishop Fernando Vergez Alzaga, secretary-general of the office, attended. The Vatican has had at least 30 cases of COVID-19, although it has reported no deaths.