Pope Francis calls for widespread COVID-19 vaccination, says health care is a 'moral obligation' | TheHill
Category: News & Politics
Via: tacos • 2 years ago • 28 commentsBy: Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech | Jan. 10, 2022 (TheHill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The pontiff urged people to take care of themselves and others by getting the jab.
By Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech | Jan. 10, 2022 
getty: Pope Francis
Story at a glance
- Pope Francis used his strongest language ever regarding vaccination during a speech to diplomats on Monday.
- Francis, who received the Pfizer vaccine in January of last year, said people had a responsibility to care for themselves and others.
- Although some conservative bishops and cardinals have taken issue with the vaccine research using stem cells from aborted embryos, the Vatican Doctrine Office has said it is "morally acceptable" to get the vaccine.
Pope Francis on Monday called for widespread COVID-19 vaccination, stating that people had a responsibility to care for themselves and others, according to The Associated Press (AP).
"And this translates into respect for the health of those around us. Health care is a moral obligation," he said.
The pontiff made the comment during a speech to diplomats at the Holy See, an annual event where the pope lays out the Vatican's foreign policy goals for the year. The pontiff said the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was still causing social isolation and taking lives, noting that vaccinations were lowering the risk of the disease. He said it's important to vaccinate as much of the general population as possible, according to Voice of America.
Our country is in a historic fight against the coronavirus.
Francis denounced the fact that ideological divides are dissuading people from getting vaccinated.
"Frequently people let themselves be influenced by the ideology of the moment, often bolstered by baseless information or poorly documented facts," he said, according to the AP.
"Vaccines are not a magical means of healing, yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease," he continued.
Some Catholics, including some conservative U.S. bishops and cardinals, have called vaccines based on research that use stem cells derived from aborted embryos as "immoral," but the Vatican's Doctrine Office has said it's "morally acceptable" for Catholics to get the jab.
Pope Francis himself received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine early last year.
Published on Jan 10, 2022
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So stick that in your “Religious Objection” and smoke it.
About a year too late, eh?
I don’t know - the Vatican has been pro-vax for a while.
Freedom is a real moral obligation.
Forced vaccination? Not so much.
People in Italy face hefty fines if they don't get vaccinated
And how is that working out for them?
edit: I see you added a link after I responded. Time will tell if it helps but I suspect it will be viewed that way regardless as the Omicron variant begins to burn out in Europe
I wanted to back up my statement so I went and find something after I posted my first sentence
No problem, it’s good info. I still prefer to error on the side of freedom of choice and liberty though.
And people say Europe is more free than the US. Not Italy I guess, at least not yet.
That is the subject of much debate.
Most would say that moral obligation infringes on true freedom.
nah, not most but opinions do vary
I guess I'm a bit older, we got all of our shots while we were in grade school.
Sometimes a needle or two.
Sometimes a cube of sugar with a drop of the pink vaccine ( we all volunteered for more ).
And then there was this monster air jet injector that left most of us with a dime sized scar.
I think the nurses got some perverse pleasure when using it, lol.
I was about 5 when I got my small pox vaxx. I remember the doctor jabbing me over and over with a tiny needle. Then it scabbed over, fell off, and left me with the scar
Now that arm bleeder you're showing is what we got hit with in basic training
I believe it can deliver 8 vaccines at a time.
I remember getting one in the seat area, butt then I was a magnet for poison ivy
and got so many steroid shots in the butt for that, that I can't keep them all straight.
He didn’t say anything about forcing it. He just said you should do it - unless you want to burn in Hell for eternity.
Lol .... the Catholic Church doesn’t exactly have moral high ground .....
At minimum, if you’re a Catholic, I think you don’t really get to go around claiming a religious exemption at this point.
I mean, no one can stop a person from saying something that makes no sense, but the expert authorities on the matter in that Church have made it plain that they do not endorse the religious exemption claim to vaccines.
Are you trying to say that the moral thing to do is not get a vaccine?
No I’m saying it’s a fools errand to judge people on such things.
One persons moral can be another persons immoral.
I simply respect people’s ability to choose without institutional interference.
Oh and by the way I am Catholic but I’m sure the Pope isn’t very impressed by me for more than one reason.
Except that's exactly what anti-vaxxers on religious grounds are doing. They are saying they can't take the vaccine - not because it's personally immoral only for them, but because as Christians, it is immoral generally. If the Pope is judging people by saying that getting vaccinated is the moral thing to do, then the anti-vaxxers are just as judgy.
So no one can ever have an opinion about what someone else chooses - even when the choice impacts other people?
He didn't say that or even imply it. I felt he said what he did in reference to the parable of the Good Samaritan where it's important to put the well-being of your neighbors above yourself.
Of course not. That part was a joke.
Hey, Catholics raised on Original sin and stains on milk in milk bottles as an analogy for the soul
take those fiery damnations seriously.
Not quite as seriously now that they arbitrarily did away with Limbo,
but it's definitely implied from the guy who speaks ex cathedra.
/s
Sure you can have an opinion about anything you want What you can’t do is force someone else to get vaccinated against their will.
I don’t give a shit what the Catholic Church or anyone else says about it. I don’t need their approval nor do I care about their disapproval. It’s not their choice. It’s mine and mine alone.
So you can rail against religious exceptions all you want. They are inconsequential in the scheme of personal choice. People are free to say they won’t get vaccinated for religious reasons but they don’t need to. It’s simply their choice.
No more complicated than that.
No one suggested that here. I didn’t. The Pope didn’t. I don’t know why you keep going on about it. This seed isn’t about mandates. It’s about people who claim they can’t get a vaccine for religious reasons, and the religious leader with the most followers saying, “That’s Bologna!”
Quite an admission, it explains a lot...
Don’t need that response to already understand the malfunctions that produced it .....
So is not molesting children.