From October 1st, all visitors to the Vatican are required to have a green pass.
According to this, residents, employees and visitors to the Papal States have to prove a vaccination against the coronavirus, a survived Covid-19 illness or a negative test.
In addition to the Italian Green Pass, the certificate commonly used in the EU is also valid.
The regulation applies not only to the territory of the Papal States, but also to extraterritorial institutions in Rome and to the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo.
The Vatican announced admission controls by its own gendarmerie corps. A certificate has been mandatory for visiting the Vatican museums since August. Visitors to masses and liturgical celebrations, for example in St. Peter's Basilica, do not need a certificate, but they must adhere to the mask requirement as well as the hygiene and distance rules during the service. In talks with the government in Rome, the Italian Bishops' Conference achieved that church services could be attended without any restrictions.
In the meantime, it was reported from Slovakia that Ján Babjak, Archbishop of Prešov in the east of the country, was sick with Covid-19. Babjak celebrated mass on September 14th together with Pope Francis during his visit to Slovakia. Babjak suffers from mild symptoms and is in quarantine, it said. The Pope has been vaccinated twice against the corona virus, all members of his delegation as well as the accompanying journalists on papal trips are also vaccinated.