Vatican City, 08 April, 2020 / 12:20 pm (ACI Africa).
Fr. Miguel Ángel Tábet is believed to be the first priest to die of the coronavirus in Rome. Two other priests living in the same residence of Opus Dei in Rome remain hospitalized.
The 78-year-old priest died on April 8 after treatment in the intensive care unit of the Biomedical University of Rome. He was an emeritus professor of Sacred Scripture and the exegetical history at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce.
“A priest who lived by teaching and seeking the Word of God has personally found the Divine Word. Let us pray for him and entrust ourselves to his intercession,” Fr. Luis Navarro, rector of the University of Santa Croce said April 8 of Tábet.
In a letter issued the day before Tábet died, Fr. Navarro asked for prayers for Tábet and two other Santa Croce professors infected with COVID-19.
Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, 82, is being treated in intensive care in the hospital. Carrasco served as the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life from 2010-2016 and was appointed a bishop by Benedict XVI.