Vatican employees could lose their jobs for refusing the COVID vaccine

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Rome – The Vatican has taken a heavy line against employees who refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19, warning that they risk losing their jobs.

According to a decree by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, whose role as chairman of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State makes him the country’s largest administrator, employees who refuse the vaccine “without proven health reasons” face sanctions that may include ” breaking the relationship. ”

Vaccination at the Vatican
A photo provided by Vatican Media shows a room in the atrium of the public Paul VI, prepared for a vaccination campaign COVID-19 in the Vatican State, January 13, 2021 in the Vatican.

Vatican Media / Getty


The Vatican City is the smallest independent state in the world, located right in the heart of Rome. It employs several thousand people, most of whom actually live outside the 100-acre walled territory and inside Italy itself.

Those who live inside the Vatican walls tend to be elderly, such as the retired Pope Benedict XVI, 93, and Pope Francis, 84. The pontiff was vaccinated for COVID-19 last month and was a strong supporter of inoculation in the global fight against coronavirus.

“It’s an ethical choice, because you play with your health, with your life, but you also play with the lives of others,” Francis told an Italian television station last month.

Vatican Christmas
Pope Francis celebrates Mass on Christmas Eve at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on December 24, 2020.

Vincenzo Pinto / AP


Bertello, who leads his daily life in the Vatican, tested positive for coronavirus in December. Less than 30 people from the Vatican contracted the disease.

Last month, the Vatican began vaccinating homeless people who are cared for in food and health facilities.

Under Francis, the Vatican set up a number of facilities to help Rome’s homeless population, providing areas for people to bathe and shear, as well as food and health care. This winter, it began offering free COVID tests to migrants and homeless people, right under the window where the pope is doing his Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

The Vatican is beginning to vaccinate homeless people in Rome against COVID-19
A group of homeless people who are being cared for in structures run by the papal charity’s office are waiting to receive the first dose of coronavirus vaccine (COVID-19) at the Vatican on January 20, 2021.

Vatican Media / Prospect / REUTERS


Italy, once the epicenter of the global pandemic, is now battling a second wave worse than its first, as well as new variants of the virus, such as the one first discovered in the UK, which is now one of five new cases.

More than 94,000 deaths have been attributed to the virus in Italy, the second largest death toll in Europe behind the United Kingdom.

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