Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has recovered from the coronavirus disease COVID-19.
According to CBCP News, the Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome confirmed the news Wednesday.
Fr. Greg Gaston, PCF Rector, said Tagle’s recovery “is indeed a great joy for the whole Church."
“God wants him to continue serving in the Vatican’s office for the Missions, to bring God’s Good News of love, joy, peace, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation — all of which the world needs in a special way these days,” he said.
“We wish him all the best in his short visit to the Philippines, to rest a bit and be with his family back home,” added Gaston.
Tagle, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, tested positive for COVID-19 when he arrived in Manila from Rome on Sept. 10 for a brief late summer break.
He was the first Roman curia dicastery head to have contracted the virus. Tagle has been in isolation after testing positive for the virus.
Acting president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Bishop Pablo David at that time said the cardinal tested negative in Rome last September 7 precisely to be allowed to make the trip to Manila.
"In all likelihood, he may have picked up COVID-19 right at the airport or in the airplane," he said in a statement on September 12.
"He probably could not avoid being greeted by people, especially OFWs, who recognized him at the airport or inside the plane," added David.
The Caloocan prelate said Cardinal Chito came home also to visit his elderly parents in Imus, Cavite.