Vatican to let more employees work remotely as coronavirus ravages Italy

While the whole of Italy remains imprisoned in a complete lockdown, the Vatican is under increasing pressure to let more of its employees work remotely while several of its offices remain open to serve the faithful.
Vatican employees in three different offices expressed concern that officials from the Holy See had different policies regarding remote work as there remains a lack of uniformity among them.
Concerns have intensified because many Vatican employees live in priestly residences and dine together in common dining rooms. The members of two separate religious orders in Rome have already tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, indicating that the close quarters of the religious communities are a threat.
The Vatican offices that deal with particularly sensitive issues such as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have ordered employees to appear five days a week to prevent documents, files, and archives from leaving the office, which they claim is part of an effort to guarantee the health and safety of the staff.
Officials from within the Vatican have stressed that its offices would remain open despite the current lockdown in the whole of Italy. The Holy See’s department heads will continue to provide “essential services” to the church with a minimal amount of personnel on hand, while many others will, according to the Vatican, be encouraged to work and “as much as possible” remotely.
The State Secretariat – the main government body of the Holy See – has issued a new guide for its employees that urges people to work from home whenever possible, but others should come to their office if they live in the Vatican or nearby.
The Vatican has adopted some shutdown measures but has, for the most part, lagged behind Italy, the worst-hit of all European countries during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Italian government has had the country on a strict lockdown since March 10. Most recently, it approved another regulation suspending all non-essential industrial production and has shut down factories that are not critical to the functioning of Italy’s food, energy, and tourism sectors.