Just after Vatican City ordered enough doses of the coronavirus vaccine for all of its employees and their families, two cardinals who work close to the pope have tested positive for the virus. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the 57-year-old papal almoner who once climbed down a manhole to restore electricity to a building where homeless people were living, was taken to the hospital with pneumonia symptoms. Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, 78, the president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, also tested positive.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss the cardinals’ condition and the Vatican’s covid prevention measures, along with a new document from the Congregation from the Doctrine of the Faith stating that it is morally permissible for Catholics to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Colleen and Gerry break down the C.D.F.’s argument on why a vaccine derived from cell lines from an aborted fetus is acceptable for Catholics to receive. The hosts also unpack Pope Francis’ address to the Roman curia on crisis and conflict.

Links from the show:

Two Vatican cardinals close to Pope Francis test positive for Covid-19

Vatican: Catholics can get Covid-19 vaccines that used abortion cells

Pope Francis: Sorting the church into ‘right vs. left, progressive vs. traditionalist’ betrays its true nature

Pope Francis’ 2020 address to the Roman Curia

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices