Arcangeli said staff are disinfecting “the pavements, the altars, the sacristy, the stairs, practically all the surfaces,” while taking care to not damage any of the basilica’s artworks.
One of the additional health protocols St. Peter’s Basilica may adopt as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus is checking visitors’ temperatures, the Holy See press office said May 14.
Representatives of the four major Roman basilicas – St. Peter’s, St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Walls – met May 14 under the auspices of the Vatican Secretariat of State, to discuss this and other possible measures to adopt.
Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni told CNA that each papal basilica would adopt measures that reflected their “specific characteristics.”
He said: “For St. Peter's Basilica, in particular, the Vatican Gendarmerie will provide for access restrictions in close collaboration with the Inspectorate for Public Security and will facilitate safe entry with the assistance of volunteers from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.”
Rome’s churches are also being sanitized ahead of the restart of public liturgies May 18.
After a request from the Vicariate of Rome, nine teams of hazardous-material specialists have been dispatched to disinfect inside and outside Rome’s 337 parish churches, according to the Italian daily newspaper Avvenire.
The work is being carried out through the cooperation of the Italian army and Rome’s environmental office.
