Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have been vaccinated

Pope Francis, 84, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 93, are now both vaccinated against Covid-19, the Holy See spokesperson said on Thursday in a statement.

“As part of the Vatican City State vaccination program, as of today, the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus,” said in a statement the spokesperson of the Holy See Matteo Bruni.

The Pope’s doctor who died of Covid-19

The Argentine pope received his first vaccine on Wednesday, information announced in the press. The German Pope Emeritus was in turn vaccinated Thursday morning, as part of the vaccination campaign that began Wednesday for some 5,000 Vatican employees, said the Vatican information portal. In a televised interview broadcast Sunday evening, François had qualified the opposition to the vaccine of “suicidal denial”, highlighting “an ethical choice” essential to protect the lives of others.

His vaccination will be a relief for those around the Pope, reluctant to don a mask and to stay away from the faithful and visitors. His personal doctor for five years, Fabrizio Soccorsi, died Saturday at the age of 78 as a result of “complications from Covid-19” while he was “hospitalized for a cancerous pathology”. Several prelates around the pope have contracted the virus in recent months.

Partial removal of the lung at age 21

The leader of the 1.3 billion Catholics is considered a person at risk. At the age of 21, in 1957, Jorge Bergoglio had suffered from acute pleurisy and surgeons had to partially remove his right lung.

As for German Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, he has appeared increasingly fragile in recent months, moving in a wheelchair, expressing himself with difficulty. Since his resignation in 2013, he has lived in seclusion in a Vatican City monastery. He had, however, traveled to his native Bavaria in June 2020 to the bedside of his very ill 96-year-old brother, Georg, who died shortly afterwards. But then he had suffered for several months from a painful shingles in his face.