U.S. Catholic bishops are releasing a new statement further clarifying the Church’s position on the COVID-19 vaccines currently available.
By Lisa Zengarini
As the United States prepares for its largest-ever immunization campaign against COVID-19, the American bishops have decided to further clarify the Church’s position on vaccines associated with cell lines derived from aborted fetuses, recalling that since At the beginning of the pandemic it advocated the development of a vaccine unrelated to abortion.
In a statement released Dec. 14, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, reiterate that: given the urgency of the crisis, “the lack of available alternative vaccines, and the fact that the link between an abortion that took place decades ago and receiving a vaccine produced today is small, vaccination with the new COVID -19 vaccines are morally justified in these circumstances ”.
Based on long-standing teachings of the Church
The statement explains that this position is based on the Church’s long-standing teachings on the sanctity of life, quoting Pope John Paul II’s encyclical ‘Evangelium Vitae’ and important documents from the Pontifical Academy of Life and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that addresses the problem. Both the Vatican Congregation and the Pontifical Academy “ emphasize the positive moral duty to do good while distancing as much as possible from the immoral act of another party, such as abortion, in order to avoid collaboration with other people’s evil deeds and to avoid scandals, what could happen if other people’s own actions were seen as ignoring or to minimize the evil of the action, ”the two bishops write.
Different degrees of responsibility
However, they add, “The Holy See points out that there are varying degrees of responsibility in cooperating in the evil deeds of others.” Regarding the moral responsibility of those who are merely recipients of unethical vaccines, the Vatican Congregation affirms that “a serious health hazard could justify the use of a vaccine developed with cell lines of illegal origin, bearing in mind it must be held that everyone has a duty to express their disagreement and to request that their health care system make available other types of vaccines ”.
Lack of available alternative
According to the American bishops, although all three vaccines produced by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca that are now available in the US have some association with cell lines associated with aborted fetuses, their use would be morally justified given the current circumstances . These are: the currently lack of an available alternative vaccine “that is absolutely unrelated to abortion”, the serious risk to public health and, most importantly, the need to protect the most vulnerable from the disease.
With regard to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the American bishops note that it is “morally more compromised” than the other two, and therefore “should be avoided” when alternatives are available. However, if one “does not really have a vaccine choice, at least not without a long delay in immunization that can have serious consequences for a person’s health and the health of others,” they argue that “it would be permissible” to do it.
Warning against complacency about abortion
At the same time, the statement warns Catholics against complacency about abortion: “While it is morally permissible to have ourselves and our families immunized against COVID-19 with the new vaccines and may be an act of self-love and charity towards others, we must not allow that the seriously immoral nature of abortion is being obscured ”. Bishops, therefore, warn against weakening the determination “to combat the evil of abortion itself and the subsequent use of fetal cells in research.”