The Catholic Church’s embrace of coronavirus vaccines is consistent with past practice

The church has long supported public health decrees and prioritized saving lives over other Catholic doctrine.

Perspective by Susan Breitzer

Susan Breitzer is an independent historian and educational content writer. She has recently recorded a podcast on the topic of "American Religion and the Influenza of 1918."

October 21, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Pope Francis holds his pastoral staff as he arrives to celebrate Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Nov. 29, 2020. (Gregorio Borgia/AP)

Catholic religious leaders across the United States are supporting coronavirus vaccination and in many instances discouraging demands for religious exemptions by congregants (though a few bishops have made exemption letter templates available).

In doing so, they are following the lead of Pope Francis, who gave approval to the recently developed vaccines, and determined that the role of tissue from 50-year-old aborted fetuses in the production and testing of some of them did not negate their acceptability, in the absence of a morally perfect vaccine. Catholic doctrine enables this judgment, because it distinguishes between “material” vs. formal cooperation with evil when it can be justified “for proportionally serious reasons” — in creating lifesaving medicines. Francis has also encouraged the Catholic faithful to get vaccinated, calling it “an act of love.”