CARDINAL Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelizaton of Peoples, tested positive for coronavirus upon his arrival in Manila on Thursday, according to CBCP News, the website of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
This was confirmed by the Holy See Press Office in a report published by Vatican News on Friday evening, said the Philippine bishops’ news site.
The Vatican said Cardinal Tagle, who is also the president of Caritas Internationalis, is asymptomatic and is now under quarantine.
Contact tracing is actively being done to determine those whom Tagle may have come in contact with the past few days.
Although he has a residence at the Congregation, the former archbishop of Manila has been staying at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino since he arrived in Rome in February for his new posting.
Earlier this week, Tagle went to the Italian city of Turin to attend the episcopal ordination of the new Apostolic Nuncio for Mongolia, Fr. Giorgio Marengo, said CBCPNews.
Tagle underwent a Covid-19 swab test in Rome on Sept. 7, and this yielded a negative result, the Vatican said.
On September 8, the birthdate of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he led an online recollection for Filipino Covid-19 frontliners organized by Caritas Philippines and Cebu-based Dilaab Foundation.
Image credits: Vatican news