Confirmed in a brief statement by Matteo Bruni, the Director of the Holy See Press Office.

 Newsroom (September 13, 2020 Gaudium Press) — Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, has tested positive for the coronavirus. The test, of the pharyngeal type, was carried out upon his arrival in the Philippines. As per now, the Cardinal does not show any symptoms of the virus.

At this moment the Prelate is on isolation.  Necessary checks are being carried out among those who have come into contact with him in recent days. 

“Cardinal Tagle actually tested positive for Covid-19 with a pharyngeal swab carried out yesterday on his arrival in Manila,” said a brief press release by Matteo Bruni, the Director of the Holy See Press Office.

Bruni also said that Cardinal Tagle had been subjected to a COVID test on September 7. The results of the test were negative.

Cardinal Tagle

Cardinal Tagle was born in Manila on June 21, 1957; his father is from Tagalog ethnicity and his mother is of Chinese origin.

He obtained his doctorate in theology with a thesis on the transformation of the notion of episcopal collegiality since the Second Vatican Council.

In 1997 he joined the International Theological Commission and the Catholic Biblical Federation.

In October 2001 he was appointed Bishop of Imus by John Paul II, and on October 13, 2011, he was appointed Archbishop of Manila by Benedict XVI. This same Pope, in his last consistory, created him a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.

At the XXI General Assembly of Caritas, held in May 2019 in Rome, Cardinal Tagle was reconfirmed as president of that institution for a new four-year term.

On December 8, 2019, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.