Cardinal Tagle tests positive for Covid-19: First leader of the Holy See department to be hit by Coronavirus

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle

Even Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was not spared from the coronavirus disease.

The Holy See Press Office announced on Friday that Cardinal Tagle tested positive for Covid-19 after a swab test was conducted upon his arrival in Manila on Thursday.

"Cardinal Tagle actually tested positive for Covid-19 with a pharyngeal swab carried out yesterday on his arrival in Manila," said Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, the branch that publishes official activities of Pope and other departments of the Roman Curia.

But Bruni said Tagle, the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, "has no symptoms and will remain in mandatory self-quarantine in the Philippines."

The Filipino cardinal was the first leader of the Holy See department to be hit by Covid-19, according to Bruni.

"In the meantime," he added, "necessary checks are being carried out among those who have come into contact with His Eminence in recent days."

Bruni said that before heading to Manila, the 63-year-old cardinal also underwent a swab test on September 7, and the result was negative. 

The last time he met Pope Francis was on August 29.

Cardinal Tagle has been the archbishop of Manila since 2011, before heading to the Vatican for the new role assigned by the Pope. He is also the president of Caritas Internationalis, the federation of charitable organizations of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.

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