Popes Francis and Benedict receive the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine

Both Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine after the Vatican began vaccinating its employees and residents on January 13.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican Press Office, confirmed the news on January 14.

While it was widely reported that Pope Francis received the vaccine on January 13, the retired pope's secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, told Vatican News that Pope Benedict received his shot on the morning of January 14.

The archbishop told the German Catholic news agency KNA on January 11 that the 93-year-old pope, who lives in a converted monastery in the Vatican Gardens, and all his household staff wanted to be vaccinated as soon as the vaccine was City State. Vatican.

He told Vatican New s that the retired pope followed the news "on television, and shares our concerns for the pandemic, for what is happening in the world, for the many people who have lost their lives to the virus."

"There have been people he knows who have died from COVID-19," he added.

Ganswein said the retired pope is still very sharp mentally, but his voice and physical strength have weakened. "He is very frail and can only walk a little with a walker."

He rests more, "but we still go out every afternoon, despite the cold, in the Vatican Gardens," he added.

The Vatican's vaccination program was voluntary. The Vatican health service prioritized its health care workers, security personnel, public care employees, and elderly residents, employees and retirees.

In early December, Dr. Andrea Arcangeli, director of the Vatican health service, said they would start with the Pfizer vaccine, developed in collaboration with BioNTech.

Pope Francis said in a televised interview on January 10 that he too would be vaccinated against the coronavirus as soon as it became available.

He said he believes that from an ethical point of view everyone should get the vaccine because those who do not would risk not only their own life but also that of others.

In a January 2 press release, the Vatican's Department of Health Services said it had purchased an "ultra-low temperature refrigerator" to store vaccines and said it expected to receive sufficient doses to cover "the needs of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State. "

The Vatican reported its first known case of the infection in early March, and there have been 25 other cases reported since then, including 11 Swiss Guards in October.

Pope Francis' personal physician died on January 9 from complications caused by COVID-19. Fabrizio Soccorsi, 78, was admitted to the Gemelli hospital in Rome on December 26 due to cancer, according to the Italian Catholic agency SIR, on January 9.

However, he died from "pulmonary complications" caused by COVID-19, the agency said, without providing further details.