Cardinal Bassetti has been in the hospital since October 31.Hospitalized since October 31 with Covid-19, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti was transferred to the intensive care unit on the night of November 2 to 3. On the morning of November 2, a request for prayer for the president of the Italian episcopal conference circulated in many religious communities in Italy.
The 78-year-old archbishop of Perugia began to show symptoms, including fever and difficulty breathing, already on October 28.
The Permanent Episcopal Council of the Italian bishops, meeting in extraordinary session by videoconference, accompanies the Italian cardinal in prayer.
The high prelate will not be the only one absent from the Council meeting: the Archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini, was also diagnosed positive for Covid-19, though he is not showing any symptoms.
There have been only a few cardinals who have contracted Covid-19 thus far.
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Pope Francis’ vicar for the Diocese of Rome, and Cardinal Luis Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, both had it earlier in the year and recovered.
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