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January 4, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — As moral debates over the use of abortion-tainted COVID-19 vaccines swirl in social media, two activist members of the Catholic clergy, Fr. Dave Nix and Deacon Nick Donnelly, have independently joined their voices to those who oppose the use of such vaccines.

Last month, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, along with co-signers Cardinal Janis Pujats, Bishop Joseph Strickland, and Archbishops Tomash Peta and Jan Pawel Lenga, released a paper expressing the strong conviction that any use of a vaccine tainted with the “unspeakable crime” of abortion, under any circumstances, “cannot be acceptable for Catholics.”

These prelates cited the teaching of St. John Paul II affirming the duty of every Catholic and person of goodwill to defend “the most basic and fundamental right” to life “with maximum determination.” To make use of vaccines “made from the cells of murdered unborn children contradicts [this] ‘maximum determination’ to defend unborn life.”

“The crime of abortion is so monstrous that any kind of concatenation with this crime, even a very remote one, is immoral and cannot be accepted under any circumstances by a Catholic once he has become fully aware of it,” they wrote. “One who uses these vaccines must realize that his body is benefitting from the ‘fruits’ … of one of mankind’s greatest crimes.”

Partially in response to “diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements in the mass media by bishops, Catholic associations, and experts,” the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a statement on December 21 affirming the judgement the Church has espoused for many years.

The CDF argued that “when ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines are not available … it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process” (emphasis in original).

“The fundamental reason for considering the use of these vaccines morally licit,” the statement continued, “is that the kind of cooperation in evil (passive material cooperation) in the procured abortion from which these cell lines originate is, on the part of those making use of the resulting vaccines, remote.”

In response to this statement from the CDF, author and former news editor for EWTN Great Britain, Deacon Nick Donnelly, tweeted, “On the eve of the Church celebrating the birth of the Son of God, and Catholics around the world venerate and love the baby in the crib, the Vatican approves the use of cells from babies murdered through abortion. I can’t express how upset this makes me.”

Considering a spiritual side of this question, Catholic priest-hermit, Red Rose Rescuer and host of the “Padre Peregrino” YouTube channel, Fr. Dave Nix, proposed in a tweet, “God would not allow your health to be aided in any way by any vaccine connected to abortion.”

The CDF doctrinal note goes on to articulate another important criterion for the use of such tainted vaccines affirming that while there is normally a “moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation” with abortion in this way, this “is not obligatory if there is a grave danger.”

The document continues stating that such a grave danger presently exists in “the pandemic spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19,” though the CDF was not explicit on where the Church has competence to make that determination.

Others with due competence have come to the opposing conclusion that vaccines are not needed at all for this pandemic, which they state is effectively “over.” Several thousand doctors in Belgium also affirmed that “[i]f 95% of people experience Covid-19 virtually symptom-free, the risk of exposure to an untested vaccine is irresponsible.” And over 51,000 affirm that due to the relatively mild danger of COVID-19 to the vast majority of the population, “those who are at minimal risk” should be permitted “to live their lives normally [and] build up (herd) immunity to the virus.”

Author and editor of Catholic World News, Phil Lawler, observed, “The Vatican’s doctrinal congregation says that it will not judge the safety or efficacy of vaccines, because those are medical rather than moral judgments. However, the statement says that the Covid epidemic constitutes a ‘grave danger,’ and thus justifies the use of vaccines developed by immoral methods. Wait a minute. Isn’t that a medical rather than a moral judgment?”

In response, theologian, author and composer Dr. Peter Kwasniewski commented to LifeSiteNews: “The Vatican’s reasoning about the permissibility of a morally tainted vaccine rests entirely on a prudential judgment that we are in a major pandemic that requires the suspension of economy, mental health, optimal education, and a host of other social goods. That judgment is no more than a popular political stance that conflicts with the actual data. The catastrophic effects we see around us are enough to show that too high a price has been paid for ‘security’ or ‘safety.’ We are straining the gnats and swallowing the camels.”

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

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