Top officials in Vatican Secretariat of State test positive for COVID-19

by CNS · January 18, 2022

(Left) Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, addresses the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. (CNS photo/Daniel Leal-Olivas, Reuters pool)(Right) Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute secretary for general affairs in the Vatican Secretariat of State, is pictured in Maputo, Mozambique. Both have tested positive for COVID-19, the Vatican press office confirmed Jan. 18. (CNS photo/Paul Haring).

By CNS – As the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues spreading rapidly in Italy, the Vatican press office said both Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute for general affairs in the secretariat, have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Cardinal Parolin, who turned 67 Jan. 17, has “mild symptoms,” according to Matteo Bruno, director of the press office. Archbishop Peña, 61, is asymptomatic, he said. Both are in isolation in their respective Vatican apartments. Since Cardinal Parolin signed an order in December requiring all Vatican employees to be vaccinated and to receive a booster shot, it is believed both are fully vaccinated.

The press office would not say when either of the prelates had last met with Pope Francis.

The pope had met Jan. 17 with Zeljko Komsic, chairman of the rotating presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Usually visiting national leaders would meet with Cardinal Parolin after meeting the pope, but Komsic met only with Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister.