U.S. Catholic bishops are issuing a new statement that further clarifies the Church’s position on COVID-19 vaccines currently available.
By Lisa Zengarini
As the United States prepares for its largest vaccination campaign against COVID-19, U.S. bishops have decided to further clarify the Church’s position on vaccines that have some connection to cell lines. caused by aborted fetuses, recalling that since the beginning of the pandemic has advocated the development of a vaccine that has nothing to do with abortion.
In a statement issued Dec. 14, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chair of the Doctrine Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chair of the Pro Activities Committee -Life of the USCCB reiterate that, given the urgency of the crisis, “the lack of alternative vaccines available and the fact that the connection between an abortion that occurred decades ago and receiving a vaccine produced today is remote, inoculation with the new COVID-19 vaccines in these circumstances can be morally justified ”.
Based on long-standing teachings of the Church
The statement explains that this position is based on the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life, citing the encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” of Pope John Paul II and important documents from the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Congregation. for the Doctrine of the Faith which deals with the subject. Both the Vatican Congregation and the Pontifical Academy “emphasize the positive moral obligation to do good and to distance oneself as much as possible from the immoral act of another party, such as abortion, in order to avoid cooperation with malicious actions of another person and avoid making scandals, which could happen if other people perceive their own actions to ignore or minimize the evil of the action, ”write the two bishops.
Different degrees of responsibility
However, they add: “The Holy See points out that there are different degrees of responsibility when it comes to cooperating with the evil actions of others.” Regarding the moral responsibility of those who are merely recipients of unsightly vaccines, the Vatican Congregation states that “a serious health hazard could justify the use of a vaccine developed with cell lines of ill · Taking into account that everyone has a duty to make their disagreement known and to ask their healthcare system to make other types of vaccines available ”.
Lack of alternative available
According to U.S. bishops, although all three vaccines produced by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca now available in the U.S. have some connection to cell lines connected to aborted fetuses, their use would be morally justifiable given current circumstances. . They are: the lack, at present, of an available alternative vaccine “that has absolutely no connection with abortion”, the serious risk to public health and, above all, the need to protect the most vulnerable of the disease.
As for the AstraZeneca vaccine, U.S. bishops point out that it is “more morally compromised” than the other two and therefore “should be avoided” if alternatives are available. However, if “you really can’t choose a vaccine, at the very least, not without a long delay in vaccination that could have serious consequences for the health and well-being of others,” they state that “it would be permissible” to accept that.
Warning against the complacency of abortion
At the same time, the statement warns Catholics against complacency in the face of abortion: “Although we ourselves and our families are vaccinated against COVID-19 with the new vaccines it is morally permissible and can be an act of self-love and charity towards others, we must not allow the gravely immoral nature of abortion to be obscured. ”That is why bishops warn not to weaken the determination“ to oppose the evil of abortion. and the subsequent use of fetal cells in research. “