Vatican requires vaccine pass for visitors and employees
The Vatican will require all visitors and personnel to show a Covid-19 pass proving they have been vaccinated, have recovered from the coronavirus, or have tested negative for the disease in order to enter the city state beginning October 1.
To enter Vatican territory, tourists and other visitors, employees, and officials will be required to show a digital or paper Covid Certificate issued by the Vatican or another country, according to an ordinance published September 20.
The president of Vatican City State, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, issued the ordinance at the request of Pope Francis, who asked “to take all appropriate measures to prevent, control and combat the ongoing public health emergency in the Vatican City State”.
Under the new order, Catholics attending liturgical celebrations at the Vatican will be an exception to the vaccine rule. People will be allowed to access a liturgy “for the time strictly necessary for the conduct of the rite,” while also following distancing and masking rules.
Italy’s vaccine passport, called the “Green Pass,” requires proof of vaccination against Covid-19, proof of recovery from Covid-19 within the previous six months, or proof of a recent negative Covid-19 test.
Pope Francis says people wanted him to die amid health problems
In a private meeting with Jesuits in Slovakia September 12, Pope Francis said that there were people who wanted him to die after he underwent colon surgery in July.
During the encounter, a Jesuit priest asked the Pope how he was doing, to which he replied: “Still alive, even though some people wanted me to die.”
“I know there were even meetings between prelates who thought the Pope’s condition was more serious than the official version. They were preparing for the conclave,” he added. “Patience! Thank God, I’m all right.”
Pope Francis answered questions from fellow Jesuits at a closed-door meeting in Slovakia’s capital city, Bratislava, during his September 12-15 visit to the country.
The trip was his first since being hospitalised on July 4 for an operation to relieve severe stricture of the colon caused by diverticulitis. The three-hour surgery included a left hemicolectomy, the removal of one side of the colon.
After the operation, false rumours began to circulate on social media and in online posts that Pope Francis might soon resign, based in part on other unsubstantiated claims that the Pope was possibly suffering from a “degenerative” and “chronic” disease.
Vatican ‘worried’ about AUKUS nuclear rearmament
The Vatican’s Secretary of State commented on the new security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to deploy nuclear-powered submarines in the Indo-Pacific region.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin told journalists at the sidelines of a September 22 event that “the Holy See is opposed to rearmament”.
“All the efforts that have been made and are being made” by the Vatican are “to eliminate nuclear weapons, because they are not the way to maintain peace and security in the world, but they create even more dangers for peace and even more conflict,” Cardinal Parolin said. “Within this vision, one cannot but be worried.”
The AUKUS trilateral security pact, announced September 15, will add to the Western military presence in the Pacific amid concerns about China.