Rome – Both Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict have their first doses of one coronavirus vaccine, the Vatican confirmed Thursday. The Pope and his predecessor received the first half of their vaccinations as part of a campaign for Vatican City residents and employees launched Wednesday.
Pope Francis is 84, and Pope Benedict Emeritus is 93, so because of their age alone, they are both at high risk for complications from the virus. In addition, Francis had part of a lung removed at the age of 21 because of a recurring lung infection. He spent months in a hospital, unsure whether to live or die.
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“I have some idea of how people with coronavirus feel when they have trouble breathing on fans,” he says wrote recently, recalling his health crisis more than half a century ago.
Francis is a staunch supporter of COVID-19 vaccinations, even calling the refusal of vaccination ethically unacceptable.
“You gamble with your health, with your life, but you also gamble with the lives of others,” he said in a recent interview with Italian broadcaster Canale 5. He said that “anti-vaxxers” lived in an inexplicable “suicidal denial. “. “
The Vatican’s doctrinal office said in December that it was “ morally acceptable ” for Catholics to receive a coronavirus vaccine, even if it was developed with cell lines from aborted fetuses.
However, the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States said that while all three major vaccines – by Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford / AstraZeneca – had a ‘very remote’ connection to stem cells from aborted fetuses, the AstraZeneca vaccine was ‘more moral’ . compromised, “and so” should be avoided when alternatives are available. ”
It is believed that Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict both received the Pfizer vaccine. In December, the head of the Vatican’s health department said the small city-state would launch its vaccination program with the Pfizer drugs.
Francis has been a strong one advocate a just and just distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world, especially for the most deprived.
The Vatican’s vaccination program includes residents of the Vatican City, employees and their families.
Vatican City has had fewer than 30 cases of COVID-19, including some in the same hotel where Pope Francis lives. However, most of the cases were among members of the Swiss Guard, who lived in communal barracks.