Rome, 25 November – Carrot is better than stick with i threatens No Vax. The bishops choose the path of moderation with priests following in the footsteps of the former apostolic nuncio to the United States, the archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the standard bearer of the conspiracy theorists in cassock. The last on the list, in order of appearance on the national stage, is the chaplain of the hospital of Santa Agata di Militello, in the Messina area. About forty years, don Giuseppe Agnello rejects the label of ‘Covid denier’, but in the meantime in his homilies, also disseminated through a Youtube channel, aimed at the “new evangelization” – an expression dear to Benedict XVI who set up an ad hoc dicastery – he takes it out on powerful of the earth: “They have planned the pandemic for them and with lies they are taking us away from the kingdom of God and from each other”. With the complicity of the government? “The executive has made the protection money legal”, translated the tampon. Not only that, “it inflates some data to keep fear high and hides others”.
Don Agnello is just one of dozens of ‘skeptical’ presbyters, to put it mildly, on the real nature of the Covid-19 infection and on vaccines. The president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference spoke about these priests cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, on the sidelines of the extraordinary assembly of the episcopate. Responding to a question about any measures to be taken against the No Vax priests, the archbishop of Perrugia entrenched himself behind the absence of a generalized civil vaccination obligation. “It is very difficult to force you to do something for which you are not obliged by the law”, is the cardinal’s thesis. From here to do nothing passes, however. Those who do not get the vaccine, relaunches Bassetti, who ended up in intensive care for Covid last year, “at least put yourself in a position not to harm others. It means that you will periodically take a swab. It is a moral invitation for those who have responsibilities of ministry “. The hope of the Italian Church for its priests remains that” to get vaccinated and to put themselves in a condition of freedom to exercise this ministry “. Prophylaxis is” a guarantee “, the tampon” does not solve the problem”.
No obligation, but a wish to get immunized, then. A soft line in order not to exacerbate the ongoing social conflict between Vax and No Vax. At the same time also a (subtle) distinction from the words of the Papa that on vaccination has always been very clear. “It is an ethical duty, so that you gamble your health, your life, but you also gamble the lives of others,” he said in January. In what sounded like a moral imperative and not a wish.
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