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Cardinal Bassetti and Pope Francis in August 2018
© APA (AFP)
The Pope has humorously commented on the recovery of Italian Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti from Covid-19. “Do you know why you are alive and doing better?” Francis said in a phone call, according to the 78-year-old, and he immediately responded, “Because there was no place for you in hell. The archbishop was admitted to a Perugia hospital in late October with Covid-19. His condition was critical for days.
The support of Francis and others was very important to him, Bassetti said, according to Kathpress on Italian television. The 78-year-old man was only able to leave the clinic after several weeks in late November. The pope had asked Bassetti employees several times how he was feeling, and then spoke personally with the cardinal.
In the broadcast of the public radio station RAI 1, the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference also appealed to the Italians, despite the vaccines from Sunday, not to give in to other protection measures. The vaccine will be essential, Bassetti said, “but let’s not forget the other precautions, starting with the mask. This is how we save our lives and that of others.”
During the midday prayer on Saturday, the Pope himself again warned that the requirements and protection measures of the authorities be met. In his Christmas speech on Friday, Francisco also criticized “radical individualism” in the face of the pandemic and, therefore, an attitude that accepts the danger of other people and insists on one’s own rights to freedom.
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