The pope's almsgiver Msgr. Krajewski invites us to remember the poor during covid vaccinations

After recovering from COVID-19 itself, the pope's point man for charity is encouraging people not to forget the poor and homeless as vaccination programs spread around the world.

The Vatican administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 25 homeless people on Wednesday, while another 25 were due to receive it on Thursday.

The initiative was made possible thanks to the Polish cardinal Konrad Krajewski, pontifical almsgiver.

Krajewski's job is to do charity in the pope's name, especially for the Romans, but this role has expanded, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, to include not just other Italian cities, but some of the poorest countries in the world.

During the crisis, it distributed thousands of protective equipment and dozens of respirators to Syria, Venezuela and Brazil.

The fact that at least 50 homeless people will receive the vaccine "means that anything is possible in this world," Krajewski said.

The prelate also noted that measures are in place to ensure that the same people receive the second dose.

"The poor are vaccinated just like every other person who works in the Vatican," he said, noting that nearly half of Vatican staff have received the vaccine so far. "Perhaps this will encourage others to vaccinate their poor, those who live on the street, as they too are part of our communities."

The group of homeless people vaccinated by the Vatican are those regularly cared for by the Sisters of Mercy, who run a house in the Vatican, as well as those who reside in Palazzo Migliore, a shelter that the Vatican opened last year near St. Peter's Square.

Putting the homeless on the list of those to be vaccinated by the Vatican was not easy, the prelate said, for legal reasons. However, Krajewski said, “we must set an example of love. The law is something that helps, but our guide is the Gospel “.

The Polish cardinal is one of many high-ranking Vatican employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. In his case, he spent Christmas hospitalized due to complications from pneumonia caused by COVID-19, but was released on January 1.

The prelate said he feels better, even though he is still suffering minor consequences from the virus, such as exhaustion during the afternoon. However, he admits that "getting the warm welcome home like I did when I got back from the hospital, it was worth getting the virus."

“The homeless and the poor have given me a welcome that a family rarely gives,” said the cardinal.

Poor and homeless people in regular contact with Krajewski's office - alms offering hot meals, hot showers, clean clothes and shelter when possible - not only receive the vaccine from the Vatican, but have also been offered the chance to be tested. for the coronavirus three times a week.

When one tests positive, the spindle's office quarantines them in a building owned by the Vatican.

In an interview broadcast on January 10, Pope Francis talked about getting the COVID-19 vaccine next week and urged others to do the same.

"I believe that ethically everyone should take the vaccine," the Pope said in an interview with the TV channel Canale 5. "It is an ethical choice because you are playing with your health, with your life, but you are also playing with the lives of others".

In December, he urged countries to make vaccines "available to all" during his Christmas message.

"I ask all heads of states, companies, international organizations ... to promote cooperation and not competition and to seek a solution for all, vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable and needy in all regions of the globe" the pope said during his traditional Urbi et Orbi message (to the city and to the world) on Christmas day.

Also in December, while several Catholic bishops were providing contradictory information on the morality of the COVID-19 vaccine, taking into account that some of them used cell lines from aborted fetuses for their research and testing, the Vatican published a document calling it "morally acceptable. . "

The Vatican concluded that "it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines of aborted fetuses" in the research and production process when "ethically faultless" vaccines are not available to the public.

But he stressed that the "lawful" uses of these vaccines "do not and must not in any way imply that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines from aborted fetuses".

In its statement, the Vatican explained that obtaining vaccines that do not pose an ethical dilemma is not always possible, because there are countries "where vaccines without ethical problems are not made available to doctors and patients" or where special storage conditions or transportation make distribution more difficult.