Slovak Bishop Who Met Pope Francis Last Week Tests Positive For COVID-19

Paus Fransiskus. (Wikimedia Commons / Mario Roberto / Durán Ortiz)

JAKARTA - The Slovak bishop of the Greek Catholic Church, who met with Pope Francis when the leader of the worldwide Catholic church visited the country last week, has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in quarantine, according to the church.

Pope Francis visited Hungary and Slovakia between September 12-15, his first trip since undergoing surgery in July.

The Pope presided over the Divine Liturgy, a Byzantine rite used by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, held outside Presov in eastern Slovakia on September 14, which the bishop attended.

"Greek-Catholic Presov Bishop Jan Babjak tested positive for Coronavirus on September 18. He immediately went into self-quarantine. He was vaccinated and he is showing only mild symptoms of illness", the church said Monday, citing Reuters on September 21.

The Slovak Bishops' Conference has notified the Vatican of the circumstances, a spokesman said. Meanwhile, Pope Francis is known to have received a complete COVID-19 vaccine.

Slovakia, like other countries in Europe, is bracing for a new wave of COVID-19 cases, after the pandemic hit the country of 5.5 million hard in late 2020 and early 2021.

About half of Slovakia's adult population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which is the fifth-lowest rate in Europe, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

As of Monday, Slovakia recorded 880 new cases of COVID-19, its second-highest daily tally since April but still below levels that hit the thousands in days at the height of the pandemic.