VATICAN CITY – The Vatican said on Monday that it is “morally acceptable” for Roman Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research using cells derived from aborted fetuses. immoral.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s watchdog for doctrinal orthodoxy, said it had received several requests for “guidance” in recent months. The Doctrinal Office pointed out that bishops, Catholic groups and experts have made “diverse and sometimes contradictory statements” on this matter.
Building on the Vatican’s statements in recent years about the development of vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted fetuses, the watchdog bureau’s statement was examined by Pope Francis, who ordered it to be made public .
The teachings of the Catholic Church say that abortion is a serious sin.
The Vatican concluded that “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have utilized cell lines from aborted fetuses” in the research and manufacturing process when “ethically flawless” vaccines are not available to the public. But it stressed that the “legal” use of such vaccines does not imply, and should in no way imply, that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines derived from aborted fetuses. ‘
The Vatican did not mention any of the COVID-19 vaccines that are already being given to humans in some countries or that will soon be used.
In its statement, the Vatican explained that obtaining vaccines that do not pose an ethical dilemma is not always possible. It cited conditions in countries “where vaccines are not made available to doctors and patients without ethical concerns” or where special storage or transport conditions make their distribution difficult.
Much of the Vatican’s ruling echoed in a statement last week from officials of the American Conference of Catholic Bishops. The officials at the US conference said that “given the severity of the current pandemic and the lack of availability of alternative vaccines,” receiving the vaccines distributed in the United States is justified “despite their distant connection to morally compromised cell lines. “
Getting vaccinated against the coronavirus “should be understood as an act of charity towards other members of our community,” said officials at the US Bishops’ Conference.
Weeks earlier, two American bishops, one in Texas and one in California, had produced vaccines containing cell lines from the tissue of aborted fetuses as immoral. One of the bishops said he refused to receive such a vaccine and encouraged ordinary Catholics to follow his lead.
The Vatican assured staunch Catholics that getting a COVID-19 vaccine would not violate the Church’s moral teaching, noting that “health authorities do not allow citizens to choose the vaccine they are inoculated with.” Given such circumstances, it is morally acceptable to receive vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses, the Vatican said.
The Vatican said the COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out or expected to be used shortly are cell lines “drawn from tissue obtained from two abortions that took place in the last century.”
The Vatican did not say if and when Francis would be vaccinated against the corona virus. The 84-year-old Pope has planned a pilgrimage to Iraq in early March and it is widely expected that he and the assistants accompanying him will be vaccinated before traveling abroad.
The Orthodox Office of the Roman Catholic Church said that “vaccination is not generally a moral obligation” and should be voluntary. Still, it said, from an ethical point of view, “the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one’s health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good.”
Those who, for reasons of conscience, choose not to receive vaccinations produced by cell lines from aborted fetuses “must do their utmost to avoid,” through appropriate behavior and preventive measures, becoming “vehicles” of transmission, the council said.
In any case, there is also a “moral obligation” on the pharmaceutical industry, governments and international organizations to ensure that safe, effective and “ethically acceptable” vaccines are accessible to the poorest countries and not too expensive for them, according to the doctrinal statement. office of the Vatican. said.