By BIN Staff | 09:37 PM January 14, 2021
Pope Francis and his predecessor, former pope Benedict XVI, have received the coronavirus vaccine, the Vatican said on Thursday.
“I can confirm that, as part of the Vatican City State vaccination programme to date, the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to Pope Francis and the Pope Emeritus,” spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others.
It had already been reported that Francis, 84, had received the jab on Wednesday, the first day of the Vatican’s vaccination drive, but officials declined to confirm the news.
The Vatican News portal said Benedict, 93, was given a dose on Thursday morning.
Both men are vulnerable to contracting the virus because of their age.
The former pontiff, who stepped down in 2013 and now lives in a converted monastery in the Vatican gardens, is increasingly frail.
Pope Francis said at the weekend that everyone should get a jab.
“It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others,” he told Italy’s Canale 5 TV station. Agence France-Presse