Posted on 04/22/2021 8:32:55 AM PDT by ebb tide
When the abortion-tainted COVID-19 vaccines were first introduced, the initial question rightly raised by Catholics was, “Can I receive this vaccine?”; i.e., is it morally permissible? However, too few Catholics bothered to ask the second important moral question, “Should I receive this vaccine?” After all, we are not called to live a minimal life of the morally permissible; we are called to a life of holiness, which often includes sacrifice and prophetic witness to the world. Even if these vaccines are morally permissible, does taking them advance the common good of justice and holiness?
In December 2020, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) released a statement which, based on previous Vatican instructions, noted that “it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.” For many Catholics, including many in the hierarchy, that was the end of the debate, the only thing that mattered: it is morally acceptable, so there could be no argument against taking the vaccine.
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Although certain prominent Catholics have put forward well-reasoned arguments that taking such vaccines is immoral (including in this magazine), for this article I presume the CDF is correct that receiving the vaccine is morally permissible. Even granting this, the second question still remains: Should a Catholic receive it?
Based on their belief that vaccination serves the common good, most Catholic leaders have answered this question in the affirmative, and some have even taken this further, arguing or at least suggesting that taking the vaccine is a moral obligation for Catholics. For example, the bishop of San Diego, Robert McElroy, has been a vocal proponent of the vaccines, stating that they are not only “fully approved…by the teachings of our Church,” but also arguing they are “safe and effective.” He urges his flock to take the shot: “I pray that you will give this gift of healing for yourself, your families and to the healing of our world.” His diocesan website even has “CHURCH URGES VACCINATION” prominently displayed on its home page.
Advocacy for the vaccines isn’t limited to a single Left Coast bishop, either. A papal charity has orgainzed a vaccine drive for the poor, and Pope Francis tweeted, “All of us are called to combat the pandemic and vaccines are an essential tool in this fight.” There was even an announcement that Vatican employees would be required to receive the vaccine, although that has been backtracked a bit since it was first announced.
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From this, it appears that the institutional Catholic response is that Catholics absolutely should receive a COVID-19 vaccine, even if it is abortion-tainted (all currently available ones are). For the average Catholic, there would seem to be no religious reason not to take the shot.
Yet a deeper look at what the Church has said previously on the morality of abortion-tainted vaccines paints a different picture.
Most Vatican statements—including the December 2020 CDF Note—base their argument for the moral permissibility of taking abortion-tainted vaccines on a 2005 instruction from the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL). Written under the direction of the CDF and in the context of certain child vaccines that used cell lines from aborted babies, this reflection was the first major Vatican statement on abortion-tainted vaccines (although the term “abortion-tainted” is a relatively new description)—it forms the foundation for the moral arguments for receiving such vaccines.
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A careful reading of the statement reveals a far different emphasis versus what we now hear from our Church leaders, including those at the Vatican. After detailing the moral arguments regarding the degree of cooperation one might have when taking an abortion-tainted vaccine, the PAL states forcefully,
Therefore, doctors and fathers of families have a duty to take recourse to alternative vaccines (if they exist), putting pressure on the political authorities and health systems so that other vaccines without moral problems become available. They should take recourse, if necessary, to the use of conscientious objection with regard to the use of vaccines produced by means of cell lines of aborted human foetal origin. Equally, they should oppose by all means (in writing, through the various associations, mass media, etc.) the vaccines which do not yet have morally acceptable alternatives, creating pressure so that alternative vaccines are prepared, which are not connected with the abortion of a human foetus, and requesting rigorous legal control of the pharmaceutical industry producers. (emphasis added)
“They should oppose by all means…the vaccines which do not yet have morally acceptable alternatives”—do we see this happening today? Far from opposing “by all means” these vaccines, the Church rather is advocating for them, to the point of assisting in their promotion and even their distribution.
Further, the PAL statement goes on to say,
As regards the diseases against which there are no alternative vaccines which are available and ethically acceptable, it is right to abstain from using these vaccines if it can be done without causing children, and indirectly the population as a whole, to undergo significant risks to their health.
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This raises the important question of the actual dangers of COVID-19, especially among the young and the healthy. The vast majority of Church leaders have uncritically accepted the mainstream narrative; i.e., we are dealing with “an otherwise uncontainable spread of a serious pathological agent” (in the words of the 2020 CDF Note), one that could wipe out large swathes of our population if we don’t take serious countermeasures, including mass vaccinations. Of course, the Church has no special charism regarding medical issues; her leaders’ ability to determine what constitutes a grave medical danger is no more reliable than anyone else’s.
Yet the issue of how dangerous this pandemic is has a great bearing on whether or not a Catholic should take the vaccine. It’s clear that the 2005 PAL instruction places its emphasis on the right not to receive such vaccines, instead of an obligation to receive them. Even the December 2020 CDF statement notes that “vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary.” (And “voluntary” means free from economic or social coercion, such as vaccine requirements for jobs or airline flights.) Further, the CDF states that taking such vaccines is only permissible if there is a “grave danger” posed by not taking the vaccine—and even then, it is still not obligatory.
Even if it is morally permissible to take an abortion-tainted COVID-19 vaccine, the “default” position for the Catholic, based on the 2005 PAL instruction and even the 2020 CDF instruction, should be at least hesitancy toward taking such vaccines, especially those for whom COVID-19 is not particularly dangerous (i.e., the young and the healthy). As the 2005 PAL instruction notes, taking an abortion-tainted vaccine requires a “proportional reason” in order to take it. For most people, is taking an experimental vaccine that merely limits the symptoms of COVID-19 proportional to cooperation, even remote, in the great holocaust of our time?
Over the past 15 years, a shift in emphasis has occurred among the Church hierarchy and Catholic ethicists when it comes to abortion-tainted vaccines. Instead of emphasizing the right of conscientious objection, the Church is now emphasizing the supposed “common good” that comes from taking them, leading many Catholics to argue that one now has a duty, not to conscientious objection, but to cooperation with an abortion-tainted COVID-19 vaccine. This shift has occurred without Church leaders technically changing any moral teaching on the subject.
Abortion is the grave evil of our time. Millions upon millions of innocent babies have been brutally—and legally—murdered around the world in the past 50+ years. The Catholic Church has been the primary defender of life amidst this sea of blood. Yet when many Church leaders turn a blind eye to this horror by refusing to stand as a prophetic witness for unborn life, it’s hard not to believe that this sea of blood has begun to engulf even the Church.
Ping
To start, three things have to be repented of and ended:
1. Abortion
2. Homosexuality/sexual immorality
3. Pornography
I don’t like abortion either.
I keep hearing about how vaccines are tainted by abortion. The idea is bandied about as being factual but nobody has said what the process is by which aborted babies get added to vaccines as an ingredient. It sounds as if every dose of vaccine has an aborted baby in it. I have this morbid vision of aborted babies being blended into vaccines at the factory.
I don’t want human DNA obtained from unwilling donors injected into my body. Aborted babies certainly are unwilling donors. Just someone please give a source for saying that vaccines are tainted by abortion, an explanation of the process, or something.
All of this sexual freedom and screwing around did.
I hope those who jump behind their pulpits to preach about the evils of these vaccines also preach against the the screwing around that caused most of those abortions.
Abortion tainted research.
Not impressed with the efficacy of any of the vaccines.
Side effects not worth the risk.
I have many allergies, and nobody has identified which ones cause concern.
I'm not concerned about the virus and have Ivermectin just in case.
It’s the benefits derived from abortion and selling of parts for research that is the case against the vaccine. If we as a community accept abortion parts of a human being used in research such as vaccine research then we are saying we are okay with abortions for anything.
“ I keep hearing about how vaccines are tainted by abortion. The idea is bandied about as being factual but nobody has said what the process is by...”
It is both. If you’re ok with participating in using aborted fetuses for this then you’re ok with it. Is the Creator ok with it? Everyone has to face Him whether they believe it or not
They are all produced by utilizing aborted fetuses. Some are produced by growing the substance in media produced by aborted fetuses, some are produced by putting products of aborted fetuses into the substance injected into the recipient
Some people are ok with either, and have been, since this is how many vaccines have been made
Some people are ok with pharmaceutical companies obtaining aborted fetal tissue and using it for any of these practices
The problem anyone will have is contributing to these practices by utilizing/taking the vaccine. Does it destroy one’s moral constitution? Does it destroy the morality of our country/our culture?
Is one contributing to and promoting such practice by participating in this?
Is the Creator ok with it?
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Most surely NOT. Anything tainted by aborted baby parts, cells, tissue, etc is evil, trying to rationalize the practice is immoral. Scripture is clear about it....to many “ Christians” are deluded into thinking man’s “ science” supersedes Scripture....
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Proverbs 30:12 ESV
There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.
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Proverbs 16:2 ESV
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.
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Proverbs 14:12 ESV
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
The fetal stem cells derived from abortions and used in the production of vaccines are not themselves parts of the vaccine. Rather, they are the “medium” in which the vaccine is developed. The particular virus is injected into the fetal stem cells in a weakened form (or under conditions that will weaken the viruses ability to reproduce). This is done repeatedly using numerous fetal stem cells until the virus is of sufficient weakness to create immunity in the person receiving the vaccine, but too weak to infect him or her. The remnants of the fetal stem cells are discarded and the result is the vaccine derived from these cells.
“I hope those who jump behind their pulpits to preach about the evils of these vaccines also preach against the the screwing around that caused most of those abortions.”
Christians have been pretty consistent in preaching against premarital sex for a couple thousand years now...
I wasn't necessarily referring to preachers. I was referring to the self righteous who want to make a point of condemning the use of aborted fetal cells for research and rightfully so, but are perfectly OK with all of this screwing around that causes those abortions.
Unfortunately, many of them are "Christians".
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