Tuesday, September 15, 2026

COVID-19: Pope’s doctor is dead

It is not immediately clear if he had a recent contact with the Pope.

• January 10, 2021
Vatican City (Credit: romecolosseumtickets.tours)

Pope Francis’ personal physician, Fabrizio Soccorsi, has died from “complications due to Covid,” the Vatican’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported on Saturday.

Mr. Soccorsi, who became the Pope’s doctor in 2015, was 78 years old at the time of his demise, the outlet said.

He was previously hospitalised in Rome on December 26 for an, Avvenire newspaper reported.

It is not immediately clear if he had a recent contact with the Pope but the pontiff in a recent interview expressed his readiness to be inoculated with COVID vaccine.

The Pope also announced that the Vatican will begin Covid-19 vaccinations next week.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Oyo State Government logo

States

INEC ‌⁠‍‍⁠⁠‌‍⁠⁠⁠‍‍‌⁠‌integrates NIN into voter register ahead of 2027 polls

The Oyo State government says it has renewed its drive to bring all hospitality businesses into the tax system.

INEC Photo (Credit: Punch Newspapers)

NationWide

INEC ‌⁠‍‍⁠⁠‌‍⁠⁠⁠‍‍‌⁠‌integrates NIN into voter register ahead of 2027 polls

INEC says it has integrated NIN into its system to audit, verify, and clean the national voter register.

Alexander Zverev

Sport

Zverev criticised over lengthy second-serve routine at U.S. Open

German tennis star Alexander Zverev has been criticised for his lengthy second-serve routine at the U.S. Open final.

Dayo Faduyile

States

Ondo ‌⁠‍‍⁠⁠‌‍⁠⁠⁠‌‌‌senator Faduyile disowns fake social media handle

Mr Faduyile said scammers were using the fake account to solicit money from unsuspecting members of the public under the pretext of awarding non-existent Abuja contracts.

Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS)

Economy

Nigeria’s inflation rate dropped to 15.39% in August: NBS

August headline inflation rate fell by 0.04 per cent to 15.39 per cent, down from 15.43 per cent in July.

NAPTAN logo

NationWide

NAPTAN opposes FG’s concession of King’s College

Mr Yau-Nabayi said, “Education is not a revenue-generating agency; our schools are not revenue-generating agencies.”