Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has tested positive for Covid-19 after displaying “very light” symptoms, while his deputy, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, is also positive, though asymptomatic.
The two men are the most senior Vatican figures to test positive for the virus thus far. The church has not revealed when their most recent contact with the Pope took place, though Parolin was reportedly tested between Sunday and Monday after showing symptoms, according to local media.
Pope Francis has urged his followers to get vaccinated for Covid-19, declaring that receiving the shot is an “act of love” and failing to do so “suicidal.” While one faction of Catholics has come out in opposition to the jabs, arguing that they were developed using tissue from aborted fetuses and are thus immoral, the Vatican has claimed it is in fact “morally acceptable” to take the vaccine despite the fetus factor.
The Vatican last month announced vaccination would be mandatory for all employees, with Parolin imposing a “super green pass” system similar to that of Italy, requiring either proof of vaccination or recent recovery from the virus. Previously, individuals entering the Vatican could also show a negative Covid-19 test.
The Pope has received at least two Pfizer-BioNTech shots, and his deputies are also vaccinated.
Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 18 (IPS) – The ominous warning came in 2019 through an anonymous message on her mobile phone to stay away from a man she met on social media.
Disgraced pedo billionaire had ex-employees sign papers stating they never saw Bill Clinton at ‘orgy island’
Jeffrey Epstein reportedly had ex-managers of his ‘orgy island’ sign an affidavit affirming they never saw Bill Clinton visiting the place.
Miles and Cathy Alexander were employed by Epstein between 1999 to 2007. According to the Daily Mail, in 2016, they were contacted by Epstein’s lawyer Darren Indyke, who wanted them to sign, under oath, a paper stating they never saw Bill Clinton on Little St. James island while they were managing the financier’s Caribbean property.
The British newspaper linked the move to the then-ongoing presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, claiming Epstein went to “remarkable lengths” to “whitewash” her ex-president husband’s links to him.
Claims that Clinton visited the island, which was allegedly a place of hedonistic debauchery and sexual crimes against minors, came from Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre). She is one of Epstein’s victims, who is accusing Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, of taking advantage of her, an allegation the member of the British royal family denies.
Clinton admitted to having flown Epstein’s private jet, dubbed the “Lolita express” by the media, on several occasions, but denied he ever visited Little St. James island.
The Daily Mail said the Alexanders declined to speak to them, but that they managed to get some answers from certain people close to the couple, who currently live in South Africa. They reportedly didn’t witness any orgies on the island. Some of the girls visiting the place looked young to them, they told friends, but only one of them, a French model, was confirmed to be underage. She was “accompanied by a chaperone and had a letter of authority from her parents allowing her to travel,” according to the report.
The Alexanders resigned from their jobs a year after the FBI started investigating Epstein in what he described to his employees as a case of entrapment. Indyke, the lawyer who worked for the financier for two decades, contacted them in 2016. He brought a pre-written statement saying that “to the best of their knowledge” Bill Clinton had never visited the island during their tenure managing it, a source told the Daily Mail.
Miles reportedly slightly reworded the document before he and his wife signed it in the presence of a notary. According to the Daily Mail, what the couple told their friends about Clinton didn’t contradict the affidavit.
The source suggested that the move was linked to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. “There was a worry that the link between Epstein and Clinton and in particular the island could be used against Hillary,” the source explained.
Epstein died in a prison cell in 2019 as he was awaiting trial on multiple charges including sex trafficking. He pleaded not guilty. His death was described as a suicide by authorities. In December, his confidante Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty and convicted by a US federal court on several charges related to the sex trafficking of minors.
