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MEXICO CITY, February 10, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The Mexican bishops warned their faithful that “it is necessary … to be vaccinated to counteract COVID-19 as much as possible,” even though the vaccines currently approved “use cell lines from fetuses aborted several decades ago.”

The bishops attempt to bolster their claim of a moral imperative to take the vaccine by citing Pope Francis, whom they quote as saying “from an ethical point of view everyone should be vaccinated.”

The statement, authored by the Health Pastoral Dimension of the Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM), bases the need to take the currently available abortion-tainted COVID vaccines on disputed claims about the application of important moral principles and the safety of mRNA vaccines.

Moral arguments

The bishops dedicate much of their document to a discussion, and defense, of the moral liceity of abortion-tainted vaccines. In lockstep with the Pope and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the CEM instructs its flock that “it is morally acceptable to use the vaccines against Covid-19 that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.”

The CEM lifted this instruction directly out of the CDF’s December 21 “Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines.”

Despite declaring that the CDF’s note “deserves to be attended to with the assent of all the faithful,” the CEM seems to have glossed over the section that reads “vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation.”

Fr. Chad Ripperger, a prominent theologian and exorcist, has spoken out on the misapplication of the principle of “remote material cooperation” being used here by the CEM to justify using abortion-tainted vaccines.

Noting that vaccines are not in themselves morally impermissible, Ripperger demonstrated the conditions required to legitimately apply “remote material cooperation” to the case of abortion-derived vaccines.

“If there are vaccinations that are derived from aborted fetal tissue or have a relationship to aborted fetal tissue lines, then we have an obligation to seek out those that are not doing that — even if there is sufficiently grave cause to have the vaccination done, you still have to seek the alternative,” Ripperger explained.

“The real problem with COVID is there’s not sufficiently grave cause to be vaccinated for it … People are being brainwashed by the mainstream media; they’re constantly harping on this thing.”

“There has to be mass death in order for us to start using things that are gravely morally illicit in order to survive,” he continued. Since the death rate for COVID-19 is so slight, “it is not something for which the health requirements suffice in my opinion.”

St. Paul teaches that ends cannot justify means, going so far as to say that those who do evil that a good may arise are justly condemned: “And not rather (as we are slandered, and as some affirm that we say) let us do evil, that there may come good? whose damnation is just” (Romans 3:8).

The principle of the integral good — often called principle of double effect and applied to situations like treating an ectopic pregnancy — is derived from this Pauline teaching. According to that principle, the evil, unintended circumstance must come after the good act, not before. Since the evil of abortion was intended and executed prior to the good act of defending one’s health (via vaccination), the principle cannot be reasonably applied to vaccines making use of fetal cell lines, as some theologians argue.

Even though the abortions were carried out many decades ago, “[t]he only way to restore the order of justice is you’ve got to bury the aborted fetal lines,” Ripperger said.

Medical arguments

After presenting their reasons for encouraging vaccination, the Mexican bishops focused on those who object to the use of vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines on moral grounds.

The CEM demands that such people “must have the true possibility of implementing, both in the short and in the medium term, efficient preventive means to avoid their own contagion and the contagion of others.”

The bishops go on to explain, “These types of resources, which involve strict isolation, exhaustive hygiene, continuous verification of one’s own health and other similar measures, are not usually within the real reach of most of the population.”

“For this reason, Pope Francis has recently told us all: ‘I believe that from an ethical point of view everyone should be vaccinated, because you not only endanger your health, your life, but also those of others.’”

The bishops do not make this demand, however, of those who receive any of the available COVID vaccines, despite politicians and physicians announcing the uncertainty of suppressing transmission and contraction of the virus, even after getting the jab.

The U.K. government noted it does not yet “know whether it will stop you from catching and passing on the virus,” but it expects it might reduce that risk. Accordingly, anyone who has received the vaccine must still obey the lockdown and mask mandates in place, just like those who have not been vaccinated.

Similarly, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advise, “If you are vaccinated against COVID-19, you may still be exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19. After exposure, people can be infected with or ‘carry’ the virus that causes COVID-19.”

“For this reason,” they add, “even after vaccination, we need to continue using all the tools available to help stop this pandemic,” that is, remaining six feet apart from other people and wearing masks, among other things.

The CEM also assumes that the mRNA vaccines currently available “generate immunity against a disease [by] stimulating the production of antibodies.” This is, indeed, how vaccines typically work, but evidence suggests that mRNA vaccines actually operate more like gene therapy, instructing the body to produce the Spike protein, which is a toxin, rather than develop antibodies for fighting familiar pathogens.

The CEM raises concerns over “[c]ontroversies about drugs and medications,” an apparent nod towards the much-maligned Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine /HCQ) treatments used by some medics. Those treatments have been used effectively to combat COVID-19 without deadly side-effects.

“Mere opinions, rumors or conspiracy theories can only be rejected by a responsibly formed Christian conscience,” the bishops argue. “Catholics must not contribute in any way to misinformation since the lives of people, especially the most vulnerable, are at risk.”

The presumed safety of COVID-19 vaccines, another requirement to satisfy “remote material cooperation” in evil, is not only uncertain, but highly questionable.

Children’s Health Defense noted that, as of January 29, 501 deaths — a subset of 11,249 total adverse events — had been reported to the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) following COVID-19 vaccinations. The numbers reflect reports filed between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 29, 2021.

Of the 11,249 adverse events reported, 156 were cases of permanent disability, 139 reports of Bell’s palsy, as well as 13 miscarriages.

LifeSiteNews has produced an extensive COVID-19 vaccines resources page. View it here.