The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference took a major step forward Thursday toward easing the hearts and souls of the faithful.
The conference issued a necessary statement acknowledging that most Pennsylvanians have no choice as to which COVID-19 vaccine they may be offered — if they’re lucky enough to get one — and that it is morally acceptable to receive any of the vaccines currently part of the inoculation rollout.
The latest statement would seem to backpedal from earlier messages that could have been perceived as mixed and unclear — messages that came from leaders of the Catholic Church, local and across America, that advised Catholics to avoid the newest vaccination by Johnson & Johnson.
That earlier messaging (which the state conference said was incorrectly interpreted by news outlets) couldn’t have come at a time more damaging to the feverish effort to inoculate citizens against a pandemic so deadly and so damaging that Pope Francis himself — the leader of the church — had essentially declared that being vaccinated is a moral imperative.
The Pennsylvania conference statement on Thursday said: “In essence, we recognize that at this time individuals are not given a choice of which vaccine to receive and that this should not prevent Catholics from getting vaccinated as soon as possible. Catholics may in good conscience, receive any vaccine, in order to protect themselves. Once again, being vaccinated safely against COVID-19 should be considered an act of love of our neighbor and part of our moral responsibility for the common good.”
Indeed, Pope Francis has taken the Pfizer vaccine, and last month, the governor of Vatican City said employees who don’t take a vaccine could be sanctioned or fired.
Then came widely reported statements that seemed to cast shade on the morality of accepting the newest vaccine: the one-shot J&J inoculation.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reportedly had expressed “moral concerns” with the J&J vaccine because it is produced using cells cultivated from a line of cells derived from aborted fetuses. The conference’s chairs of doctrine and pro-life activities acknowledged that even the two vaccines authorized earlier — developed by Pfizer and Moderna — “raised concerns because an abortion-derived cell line was used for testing them, but not in their production.”
The Thursday clarification was critically important:
• Many people who are, by all standards, at the front of the inoculation line already can’t get a shot in Pennsylvania. The signup system is fraught. The vaccines — all vaccines — currently are in short supply. The most vulnerable among us wait. And wait.
• Millions of Western Pennsylvanians describe themselves as Catholic. It is the single largest denomination in Pennsylvania.
Taken together, the questions raised by some church leaders about the new vaccine was, at best, unfortunate in that it potentially created moral angst over a lifesaving, live-preserving measure like inoculation against COVID-19.
Reaction to the moral ambiguity highlighted by some was intense.
State Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, a Catholic Democrat from Erie County, issued a seething statement Wednesday: “Being pro-life means getting a vaccine as soon as you can and not worrying about the brand.”
Thursday’s statement from the state conference reiterated the church’s opposition to using cell lines derived from aborted fetuses but said receiving the vaccine is “an act of charity” in response to the havoc wreaked by the ongoing pandemic.
The Pennsylvania conference statement affirms that everyone who can get a vaccine should — regardless of the manufacturer. And the shots should be received with a clear conscience.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS
