A Catholic Response to Covid Vaccinations | EWTN News In Depth September 17, 2021

as vaccine mandates are coming into effect around the world some catholics may have lingering moral concerns about a covet shot some of these vaccines being either tested or derived from cell culture lines that were originally derived from an aborted fetus and that gives people pause but the catholic church says if there are no ethical alternatives it is morally acceptable to receive such a vaccine dr paul carson with the catholic medical association explains in part why we're in a global pandemic that is taking hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives globally um there's you know a very proportionate reason for trying to do good here joined by archbishops from latin america pope francis is supporting vaccinations in an august video message the holy father said getting the vaccine is an act of love and the us conference of catholic bishops is giving this guidance to americans given the worldwide suffering that this pandemic is causing we affirm again that being vaccinated can be an act of charity that serves the common good adding if one has the ability to choose a vaccine pfizer or moderna's vaccines should be chosen over johnson and johnson's the bishops note pfizer and moderna used abortion-derived cell lines in testing but not production while johnson and johnson used them in testing development and production the question still remains should vaccination be mandated in december 2020 the vatican's congregation for the doctrine of the faith released a statement approved by the pope in part saying practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not as a rule a moral obligation and that therefore it must be voluntary but there are differing opinions from church leaders bishops in wisconsin and colorado have released statements supporting the right to seek a religious exemption with the colorado catholic conference even providing a template for religious exemptions on their website the move in colorado was slammed by bishop robert mcelroy of san diego who asked his priests not to sign exemption letters meanwhile bishop's john stowe in the diocese of lexington and mark sites in the diocese of el paso are requiring diocesan employees to be vaccinated bishop seitz says those who work and perform ministries in a special way represent the church we need to lead by example dr joseph meaney president of the national catholic bioethics center says a vaccine mandate could pressure people into deciding to do something they are conscientiously opposed to and of course what a mandate does is tell people either you do this or you know some negative consequence comes upon you it makes it more difficult uh to to actually come to the best possible ethical decision the national catholic bioethics center has provided a vaccine exemption template letter on its website intended for catholics who have decided to refuse a vaccine for those who choose not to get vaccinated meanie is pushing extra precautions there are other things that they can do to to lessen the risk that they will catch the disease or spread it you know in terms of masking in terms of social distancing and in terms of you know taking a certain amount of precautions meanie believes instead of vaccine mandates frequent testing could be increased as the covert fight continues around the world dr paul carson is reminded of the human toll the virus is taking he argues there may be a moral imperative to get the vaccine i'm a medical director in nursing home where i saw this tear through our nursing home last fall and kill many many of our nursing home residents despite all of our best efforts to keep it out and things didn't change until we started vaccinating mark irons ewtn news in depth [Music] you

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Published: Fri Sep 17 2021