At least nine Catholic bishops have died from the coronavirus worldwide as the pandemic continues to spread across the Americas. Bishop Henrique Soares da Costa of Palmares, Brazil, became the latest bishop to die of COVID-19 on July 18. He died at the age of 57. Archbishop Emeritus Pedro Ercílio Simon of Passo Fundo died at the age of 78 on June 1 of COVID-19, and Archbishop Emeritus Aldo Pagotto of Paraiba, who was already suffering from cancer, died of respiratory failure on April 14 in an intensive care unit for coronavirus patients at the age of 70.
Sixty-six-year-old Bishop Eugenio Scarpellini of El Alto, Bolivia, died on July 15 after contracting the coronavirus. In the United States, Boston auxiliary Bishop Emilio Allue died on April 26 at the age of 85 of complications from COVID-19. At least two African bishops have died from the coronavirus. Bishop emeritus Gérard Mulumba Kalemba of Mweka, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, died on April 15 at the age of 82 in a clinic in Kinshasa.