Tagle flies back to Rome after negative COVID-19 result

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Former Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle has returned to Rome, Italy over the weekend after testing negative for COVID-19, the Pontificio Collegio Filippino (PCF) in Italy said Wednesday.

Tagle, currently the Vatican’s prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, tested negative for the virus two days before leaving the Philippines and when he arrived in Italy.

“His Eminence, Luis Antonio Card. Tagle arrived [in] Rome last Sunday from his vacation in the Philippines,” read the statement from PCF’s official Facebook page.

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“The following day he had his swab test at the Vatican, and today (Tuesday in Rome) the results came out, negative for Covid. Earlier, two days before leaving the Philippines, he also tested negative for Covid,” it added.

Tagle, meanwhile, will remain under quarantine while working from home at the PCF, where he formerly served as chairman of the institution’s Episcopal Commission for four years.

“He will still maintain self-isolation for some days, working from home at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino,” read the PCF statement.

PCF is a “Home in Rome” of Filipino secular diocesan priests, carefully chosen and formally sent by their respective bishops to pursue studies in Rome.

Tagle was diagnosed with the coronavirus disease upon arrival in the Philippines  from the Vatican last Sept. 11.

He recovered from the disease on Sept. 24, a day before he delivered a keynote address at the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines.

JPV