The Archdiocese of New York has instructed priests not to grant religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines, saying that do so would contradict the pope.
“There is no basis for a priest to issue a religious exemption to the vaccine,” stated a July 30 memo from the archdiocese’s chancellor, John P. Cahill, to all pastors, administrators, and parochial vicars in the archdiocese.
“Pope Francis has made it very clear that it is morally acceptable to take any of the vaccines and said we have the moral responsibility to get vaccinated. Cardinal Dolan has said the same,” the memo stated.
By issuing a religious exemption to the vaccine, a priest would be “acting in contradiction to the directives of the Pope and is participating in an act that could have serious consequences to others,” the memo stated.
A screenshot of the memo was circulated on social media this weekend. CNA confirmed the memo’s accuracy with the archdiocese and with a priest of the archdiocese on Monday.
In a television interview in January, Pope Francis said, “I believe that, ethically, everyone has to get the vaccine.” In a December 2020 note, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that “vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation” and “therefore, it must be voluntary.” The Vatican congregation acknowledged “reasons of conscience” for those refusing a vaccine.
Vaccine mandates have begun to be announced at places of employment in the United States. The Catholic health care network Ascension will mandate coronavirus vaccination for employees, physicians, volunteers, and vendors, although it has promised some health-related and religious exemptions.
Some Catholic institutions have stated their support for conscience exemptions to vaccine mandates, or have provided materials for individuals with religious objections to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. The National Catholic Bioethics Center lists a form letter on its website for individual Catholics seeking religious exemptions from vaccine mandates.
“The Roman Catholic Church teaches that a person may be required to refuse a medical intervention, including a vaccination, if his or her informed conscience comes to this sure judgment,” the letter states, adding that the Church “does not prohibit the use of any vaccine, and generally encourages the use of safe and effective vaccines as a way of safeguarding personal and public health.”
The Catholic Medical Association, a national network of Catholic doctors and health care workers, stated on July 28 that it “opposes mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition of employment without conscience or religious exemptions.”
The New York archdiocese’s memo began by acknowledging the “sincere moral objection” of some individuals to receiving COVID-19 vaccines, “due to their connection to abortion.”
“This concern is particularly acute among people who are strongly pro-life and very loyal to the teaching of the faith,” the memo stated.
The archdiocese further stated, “Any individual is free to exercise discretion on getting the vaccine based upon his or her own beliefs without seeking the inaccurate portrayal of Church instructions.”
Priests, however, “should not be active participants to such actions” by granting religious exemptions, the memo stated.
“Imagine a student receiving a religious [vaccine] exemption, contracting the virus and spreading it throughout the campus. Clearly this would be an embarrassment to the archdiocese. Some even argue that it might impose personal liability on the priest,” the memo said.
Currently, three vaccines have been given an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – those produced by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. While all three vaccines were tested on cell lines derived from elective abortions decades ago, only one of the vaccines – Johnson & Johnson – was directly produced using the controversial cell lines.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has stated that the use of the vaccines with connections to the questionable cell lines is “morally acceptable,” but that Catholics should seek “ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines” when available.
In its December 2020 note, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith further stated that vaccination must not be mandatory.
“Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent,” the congregation stated.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has stated that all three vaccines approved for use in the United States are “morally acceptable” for use.
“[I]f one can choose among equally safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccine with the least connection to abortion-derived cell lines should be chosen,” the USCCB said in March. “Therefore, if one has the ability to choose a vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines should be chosen over Johnson & Johnson’s.”
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Roanoke, Va., Dec 4, 2017 / 01:53 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A 15-year-old student was taken to the hospital after a woman punched her in the face outside of a Planned Parenthood in Roanoke, Virginia on Saturday morning.
The student, Purity Thomas, is a high school leader with Students for Life of America and was “peacefully sidewalk counseling” with a small group of other leaders outside of Planned Parenthood on Saturday morning when a woman sparked the altercation, the group said in a statement.
During sidewalk counseling, Students for Life leaders offer women support, encouragement and resources for pregnancy care instead of abortion.
On Saturday, the students had congregated in a grassy area outside of the abortion clinic where volunteers typically meet. Because that Planned Parenthood location performs abortions on Saturday, pro-life leaders usually offer counseling, prayer and peaceful protest outside of that location on a weekly basis.
The group of student leaders were standing away from the entrance of the Planned Parenthood when a woman reportedly threatened the group and said she would beat them up and “[expletive] them up,” the group said.
The woman reportedly approached the students and stole a sign that read “All people are made in the image of God.” At this point one of the students began filming, and the woman approached the group a second time, attempting to steal another sign before punching Thomas in the face.
“This act of violence against a group of peaceful pro-life students who were outside a Planned Parenthood offering love and support to pregnant women serves as a sad reflection on the state of debate today,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said in a statement.
“It’s horrific that a minor expressing love for pregnant women was targeted for violence.”
After the incident, one of the student leaders called the police, and Thomas was taken to the hospital for her injuries. She was examined and released Saturday.
Hawkins added that this ”is not an isolated incident. Across the country we are witnessing a rise in the number of incidents of vandalism and violence against peaceful pro-life speech,” she said. “We pray that the assailant from today’s attack is brought to justice swiftly. But we also pray for the protection of those who volunteer their time to speak for the innocent, preborn infants and their mothers.”
Boston, Mass., Sep 30, 2021 / 17:07 pm (CNA).
Legalized assisted suicide in Massachusetts would disproportionately impact the poor, disabled, and communities of color, said a group of physicians and disabili… […]
Maureen McKinley milks one of her family’s goats in their backyard with help from three of her children, Madeline (behind), Fiona and Augustine on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. McKinley and her family own two goats, chickens, a rabbit, and a dog. / Jake Kelly
Denver Newsroom, Aug 10, 2021 / 16:32 pm (CNA).
With five children ages 10 and under to care for, and a pair of goats, a rabbit, chickens and a dog to tend to, Maureen and Matt McKinley rely on a structured routine to keep their busy lives on track.
Chores, nap times, scheduled story hours – they’re all important staples of their day. But the center of the McKinleys’ routine, what focuses their family life and strengthens their Catholic faith, they say, is the Traditional Latin Mass.
Its beauty, reverence, and timelessness connect them to a rich liturgical legacy that dates back centuries.
“This is the Mass that made so many saints throughout time,” observes Maureen, 36, a parishioner at Mater Misericordiæ Catholic Church in Phoenix.
“You know what Mass St. Alphonsus Ligouri, St. Therese, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Augustine were attending? The Traditional Latin Mass,” Maureen says.
“We could have a conversation about it, and we would have all experienced the exact same thing,” she says. “That’s exciting.”
Recent developments in the Catholic Church, however, have curbed some of that excitement. On July 16, Pope Francis released a motu proprio titled Traditiones custodis, or “Guardians of the Tradition”, that has cast doubt on the future of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) – and deeply upset and confused many of its devotees.
Pope Francis’ directive rescinds the freedom Pope Benedict XVI granted to priests 14 years ago to say Masses using the Roman Missal of 1962, the form of liturgy prior to Vatican II, without first seeking their bishop’s approval. Under the new rules, bishops now have the “exclusive competence” to decide where, when, and whether the TLM can be said in their dioceses.
In a letter accompanying the motu proprio, Pope Francis maintains that the faculties granted to priests by his predecessor have been “exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the Church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division.”
Using the word “unity” a total of 15 times in the accompanying letter, the pope suggests that attending the TLM is anything but unifying, going so far as to correlate a strong personal preference for such masses with a rejection of Vatican II.
Weeks later, many admirers of the “extraordinary” form of the Roman rite – the McKinleys among them – are still struggling to wrap their minds and hearts around the pope’s order, and the pointed tone he used to deliver it.
Maureen McKinley says she had never considered herself a “traditionalist Catholic” before. Instead, she says she and her husband have just “always moved toward the most reverent way to worship and the best way to teach our children.”
“It didn’t feel like I became a particular type of Catholic by going to Mater Misericordiæ. But since the motu proprio came out, I feel like I have been categorized, like I was something different, something other than the rest of the Church,” she says.
“It feels like our Holy Father doesn’t understand this whole group of people who love our Lord so much.”
McKinley isn’t alone in feeling this way. Sadness, anger, frustration, and disbelief are some common themes in conversations among those who regularly attend the TLM.
They want to understand and support the Holy Father, but they also see the restriction as unnecessary, especially when plenty of other more pressing issues in the Church abound.
Eric Matthews, another Mater Misericordiæ parishioner, views the new restrictions as an “attack on devout Catholic culture,” citing the beauty that exists across the rites recognized within the Church. There are seven rites recognized in the Catholic Church: Latin, Byzantine, Alexandrian or Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean.
“It’s the same Mass,” says Matthews, 39, who first discovered the TLM about eight years ago. “It’s just different languages, different cultures, but the people that you have there are there for the right reasons.”
Eric and Geneva Matthews with their four children. / Narissa Lowicki
Different paths to the TLM
The pope’s motu proprio directly affects a tiny fraction of U.S. Catholics – perhaps as few as 150,000, or less than 1 percent of some 21 million regular Mass-goers, according to some estimates. According to one crowd-sourced database, only about 700 venues – compared to over 16,700 parishes nationwide – offer the TLM.
Also, since the motu proprio’s release July 16, only a handful of bishops have stopped the TLM in their dioceses. Of those bishops who have made public responses, most are allowing the Masses to continue as before – in some cases because they see no evidence of disunity, and in others because they need more time to study the issue.
But for those who feel drawn to the TLM – for differing reasons that have nothing to do with a rejection of Vatican II – it feels as if the ground has shifted under their feet.
Maureen McKinley wants her children to understand the importance of hard work, of which they have no shortage when it comes to their urban farm. After morning prayer, Maureen milks the family’s goats with the help of the children. Madeline (age 10) feeds the bunny; Augustine (7) exercises the dog; John (6) checks for eggs from the chickens; and Michael (4) helps anyone he chooses.
With a noisy clatter in the kitchen, the McKinleys eat breakfast, tidy up their rooms, and begin their daily activities. They break at 11 a.m. to head to daily Mass at Mater Misericordiæ, an apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), where they first attended two years ago.
Matt, 34, wanted to know how the early Christians worshipped.
“The funny thing about converts is they’re always wanting more,” says Maureen, who was, at first, a little resistant to the idea of attending the TLM because she didn’t know Latin. “Worship was a big part of his conversion.”
Maureen agreed to follow her husband’s lead, and they continued to attend the TLM. What kept them coming back week after week was the reverence for the Eucharist.
“Matt had a really hard time watching so many people receive communion in the hand at the other parish,” says Maureen. “He says he didn’t want our kids to think that that was the standard. That’s the exception to the rule, not the rule.”
Reverence in worship also drew Elizabeth Sisk to the TLM. A 28-year-old post-anesthesia care unit nurse, she attends both the Novus Ordo, the Mass promulgated by St. Paul VI in 1969, and the extraordinary form in Raleigh, North Carolina, where her parish, the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, offers the TLM on the first Sunday of the month.
Sisk has noticed recently that more people in her area — especially young people who are converts to Catholicism — are attending both forms of the Mass. While the Novus Ordo is what brought many of them, herself included, to the faith, she feels that the extraordinary form invites them to go deeper.
“We want to do something radical with our lives,” Sisk says. “To be Catholic right now as a young person is a really radical decision. I think the people who choose to be Catholic right now, we’re all in. We don’t want ‘watered-down’ Catholicism.”
Elizabeth Sisk stands in front of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, North Carolina.
With the lack of Christian values in the world today, Sisk desires “something greater,” which she says she can tell is happening in the TLM.
Many TLM parishes saw an increase in attendance during the pandemic, as they were often the only churches open while many others shut their doors or held Masses outside. This struck some as controversial, if not disobedient to the local government. For others, it was a saving grace to have access to the sacraments.
The priests at Erin Hanson’s parish obtained permission from the local bishop to celebrate Mass all day, every day, with 10 parishioners at a time during the height of the COVID pandemic.
“We were being told by the world that church is not necessary,” says Hanson, a 39-year-old mother of three. “Our priest says, ‘No, that’s a lie. Our church is essential. Our salvation is essential. The sacraments are essential.’”
Andy Stevens, 52, came into the Church through the TLM, much to the surprise of his wife, Emma, who had been a practicing Catholic for many years. Andy was “very adamantly not going to become Catholic,” but was happy to help Emma with their children at Mass. It wasn’t until they attended a TLM that Andy began to think differently about the Church.
“He believed that you die and then there is nothing, and he never really spoke to me about becoming a Catholic,” says Emma, 48, who was pregnant with their seventh child at the time.
Andy noticed an intense focus among the worshippers, which he recognized as a “real presence of God” that he didn’t see anywhere else. After the birth of their 7th child, he joined the Church.
All 12 of the Stevens’ children prefer the TLM to the Novus Ordo.
Emma and Andy Stevens with their 12 children in Oxford, England.
“It’s a Mass of the ages,” says their eldest son, Ryan, 27. “I can feel the veil between heaven and earth palpably thinner.”
A native of Chicago, Adriel Gonzalez, 33, remembers attending the TLM as a child, which he did not particularly like. It was “very long, very boring,” and the people who went to the TLM were “very stiff and they could come off as judgmental” towards his family, he says.
Gonzalez, who also attended Mass in Spanish with his family, didn’t understand the differences among rites, since Chicago was a sort of “salad bowl, ethnically,” he says, and Mass was celebrated in many languages and forms.
He took a step back from faith for some time, he says, noting that he had a “respectability issue” with the Christianity he grew up with. He watched as some of his friends were either thoughtless in the way they practiced their faith, or were “on fire,” but lacked intentionality. When he did come back to the faith, it was through learning about the Church’s intellectual tradition.
He spent time in monasteries and Eastern Catholic parishes with the Divine Liturgy because there was “something so obviously ancient about it.” He decided to stay within the Roman rite with a preference for a reverent Novus Ordo.
When he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, Gonzalez committed to his neighborhood parish, which had a strong contingent of people who loved tradition in general. The parish instituted a TLM in the fall of 2020, when they started having Mass indoors again after the pandemic.
Hallie and Adriel Gonzalez.
“If I’m at a Latin Mass, I’m more likely to get a sense that this is a time-honored practice, something that has been honed over the millennia,” he says. “There is clearly a love affair going on here with the Lord that requires this much more elaborate song and dance.”
For Eric Matthews, the TLM feels a little like time travel.
“It could be medieval times, it could be the enlightenment period, it could be the early 1900s, and the experience is going to be so similar,” he says.
“I just feel like that’s that universal timeframe – not just the universal Church in 2021 – but the universal Church in almost any time period. We’re the only church that can claim that.”
What happens now?
The motu proprio caught Adriel Gonzalez’ attention. He sought clarity about whether his participation in the extraordinary form was, in fact, part of a divisive movement, or simply an expression of his faith.
If it was a movement, he wanted no part of it, he says.
“As far as I can tell, the Church considers the extraordinary form and the ordinary form equal and valid,” says Gonzalez. “Ideally, there should be no true difference between going to one or the other, outside of just preference. It shouldn’t constitute a completely different reality within Catholicism.”
With this understanding, Gonzalez says he resonated with some of the reasoning set forth in the motu proprio because it articulated that the celebration of the TLM was never intended to be a movement away from the Novus Ordo or Vatican II. Gonzalez also emphasized that the extraordinary form was never supposed to be a “superior” way of celebrating the Mass.
Gonzalez believes the Lord allowed the growth in the TLM “to help us to recover a love for liturgy, and to ask questions about what worship and liturgy looks like.” He would have preferred if what was good was kept and encouraged, and what was potentially dangerous “coaxed out and called out.”
Mater Misericordæ Catholic Church in Phoenix, Arizona. / Viet Truong
Erin Hanson, of Mater Misericordiæ, agrees.
“If [Pope Francis] does believe there is division between Novus Ordo and traditional Catholics, I don’t think he did anything to try to fix that division,” she says.
Hanson would like to know who the bishops are that Pope Francis consulted in making this decision, sharing that she doesn’t feel that there is any of the transparency needed for such a major document. If there are divisions, she says, she would like the opportunity to work on them in a different way.
“This isn’t going to be any less divisive if he causes a possible schism,” Hanson says.
According to the motu proprio and the accompanying letter, the TLM is not to be celebrated in diocesan churches or in new churches constructed for the purpose of the TLM, nor should new groups be established by the bishops. Left out of their parish churches, some are worried their only option to attend Mass will be in a recreation center or hotel ballroom.
Eric Matthews hopes that everyone is able to experience the extraordinary form at least once in their life so they can know that this is not about division.
“I can’t imagine someone going to the Latin Mass and saying, ‘This is creating disunity,’” he says. “There’s nothing to be afraid of with the Latin Mass. You’re just going to be surrounding yourself with people that really take it to heart.”
Maureen McKinley was home sick when her husband Matt found out about the motu proprio. He had taken the kids to a neighborhood park, where he ran into some friends who also attend Mater Misericordiæ. They asked if he had heard the news.
“I felt disgust at a document that pretends to say so much while actually saying so little and disregards the Church’s very long and rich tradition of careful legal documents,” Matt McKinley says.
Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix stated that the TLM may continue at Mater Misericordiæ, as well as in chapels, oratories, mission churches, non-parochial churches, and at seven other parishes in the diocese. Participation in the TLM and all of the activities of the parish are so important to the McKinleys that they are willing to move to another state or city should further restrictions be implemented.
For now, their family’s routine continues the same as before.
At the end of their day, the McKinleys pray a family rosary in front of their home altar, which has a Bible at the center, and an icon of Christ and a statue of the Virgin Mary. They eat dinner together, milk the goat again, and take care of their evening animal chores. After night prayer, the kids head off to bed, blessing themselves with holy water from the fonts mounted on the wall before they enter their bedroom.
“The life of the Church springs from this Mass,” Maureen says. “That’s why we’re here—not because the Latin Mass is archaic, but that it’s actually just so alive.”
This is the sort of thing that undermines the credibility of Catholic bishops. “Embarrassment?” That sounds like an awfully flimsy excuse for not having the backs of the faithful, but after the church closures of 2021, why should we expect any better?
Well, I guess that settles it: the Catholic Church is a Church that is perfectly comfortable with the use the cell lines of aborted (murdered, reallty) babies.
. https://www.pdcnet.org/C1257D43006C9AB1/file/5265B61D5497F52585257D94004802BB/$FILE/ncbq_2006_0006_0003_0077_0099.pdf
.
The article is interesting,the footnotes are sometimes heartbreaking.
.
The Church demands “respect” for the human body, hence the hierarchy fights against cremation and so-called “liquid cremation.” Nevertheless, it is perfectly moral to use the cell lines of intentionally killed children for any variety of uses: from vaccines to flavoring tests to beauty products (https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/fetalproductsall.pdf.)
.
This is respect??
Yes, I am very well aware. As noted: the Catholic Church is perfectly comfortable with items derived from murdered children some 48 years ago. Incidentally, fetal tissue research is an ongoing reality. Who knows, maybe in 30, 40, 50 years the cure for cancer will be found because of an abortion that occurred this morning?
.
Ah, that would be an irony wouldn’t it? Some priest or pro-lifer protesting at a clinic where abortions are occuring, only to benefit from the death of a baby whose murder they were protesting?
.
Soooo, guess we should not be concerned. Greater good and all that.
Your personal computer makes use of one or more microprocessors, the developments of which were accelerated by NASA’s goal of landing a man on the moon, which in turn made use of technology developed by the German rocket scientist Werner von Braun, who helped to develop for Hitler’s Third Reich the V2 rocket that killed many people in England. Later in life, Werner introduces this video, with a reference to a “God given ability”:
There is cures for most all cancers but big medicine through the pharmaceutical companies as well as hospitals that specialize in treating cancer will not let these cures come into the public eye. Just like as an example squashing the gasoline cars that could get 100 mpg big oil would never let this happen. Cancer is curable the media propaganda will say no it isn’t.
Yes, all of the pharmaceutical companies are involved in a secret conspiracy to withhold medications from dying people so they can make a profit. The earth is also flat; climate change is real; and the moon landings were all faked on a movie studio set.
Peisistratos,
You have done a service to the Church with your posting.
While the CDF article should be sufficient to provide practical guidance for practicing Catholics, an even more detailed analysis is available:
I do not have any doubt that much of what we use in our every day life without a single though is tainted in some fashion with someone’s death, or someone being enslaved, or child labor, etc.
.
These vaccines are being pushed on us by our own hierarchy, and for a good many of of, are neither necessary nor wanted.
.
On this kind of thing is ongoing.
. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pittsburgh-fetal-tissue-project
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Want to put an end to it?? Stop buying these products. Simply complaining will not do any good. It would help if the Hierarchy were on our side.
Quite apart from anything else, nobody can require us as Catholics to provide a note from a priest, because the civil authorities don’t get to define what our religion is or what our consciences say. So if, for example, a nondenominational “Bible Christian” who acknowledged no church hierarchy or an atheist could say “It’s against my conscience” and be told, “Oh, well, that’s your call,” I think it would count as illegal discrimination to insist that the Catholic had to have a note.
This does seem to be the issue on which the Catholic Church has shipwrecked itself, not only in its cooperation with products of abortion, but in its failure to grasp the truth of the matter on every level.
Not vaccines
No grave threat
Ignored alternatives etc, etc, etc.
But nonetheless confidently onboard with the narrative. What the hell is going on?
I never heard the Catholic Church or the USCCB use the term “embarrassment to the archdiocese” when the scandals of the priesthood is exposed, from either homosexual acts, pedophilia or stealing money from the Catholic faithful. Why is it not an embarrassment that the truths of the Catholic faith have not been taught, such as the Holy Eucharist is the body and blood soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, not a symbol, also you cannot receive Our Lord , when in the state of mortal sin. We need to pray for our Shepherd’s for holiness and courage.
“Any treatment which claims to
save human lives, yet is based upon the destruction of human life in its embryonic state, is
logically and morally contradictory, as is any production of human embryos for the direct
or indirect purpose of experimentation or eventual destruction.” John Paul II, Address to
the Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (November 10, 2003).
I don’t need a priest to grant me an exemption from taking the currently available, morally compromised vaccines. My conscience does that for me. Pope Francis has stated that there is a moral obligation to take the vaccines, but all the ones that are available have some connection to research on fetal cells obtained through abortions. Taking any of them implies an approval of such medical research going forward. If the Church had stood firm in the beginning of the pandemic and told people not to receive immorally produced vaccines, don’t you think we would have had at least one vaccine (Sorrento) that wasn’t researched, produced or tested by immoral methods? The hierarchy takes away religious freedom of conscience? Aren’t they acting, then, like the secular government? Shame.
During the Bergoglian captivity we have all come to be supremely confident that episcopate holds the interest of the faithful paramount. We’ve seen it demonstrated in its ardent concern for the faithful comprising the underground Church in China, those who find their liturgical devotion enhanced by participating in the sacrifice of the Mass according to the Ancient Rite, and the suppression of the Eucharist globally when it was deemed to be a threat to temporal existence, ad infinitum…
What is wrong with this picture?
A trust deliberately trashed will not be easily restored.
I am very disappointed in the arch diocese. I will move forward with a request for religious exemption despite their office. And if denied I’ll accept any consequence. I think the diocese statement is a disgrace I’ll be sure to give my money to true Christian work.
Mother theresas nuns who do look after the poorest of the poor 🙏you will never recieve reguestbafter reguestb for more money. You will though recieve a tax receipt and a sincere thank you
I have read Francis’ exhortations composed for him. I have no idea if he ever read them. Most of the content was good. Sections were blatantly sophist. By ignoring the Dubia, Francis has refused to answer simple, self-evident questions about exceptionless norms of the negative precepts of the natural law that any theology freshman taking a first course in moral theology could handle with ease. Before the whole world he has made consistently stupid remarks about abortion, from forceful but insensitive remarks that authentic pro-lifers never make, characterizing a troubled woman in a crisis pregnancy as hiring a hitman, to remarks that trivialize abortion as an obsession, to praise for the world’s most savage abortionists and promoters. I exercise simple honesty, not disrespect, to say I know of no reason to take the advice of a pope I regard as a profound fool on matters of morality.
“This concern is particularly acute among people who are strongly pro-life and very loyal to the teaching of the faith,” the memo stated.
So, it sounds like, if you’re “very loyal” to the faith you’re some kind of idiot.
Agreed that we are morally obligated to pursue knowledge of this Corona spike protein being used in an injection involving multiple vital organs and the reproductive system for the good of self and others, including the preview. However, even as composing this response, new data is forthcoming and as it relates to variants and long and short term benefits or harm. Moreover, one has to evaluate the degree of emergency in rushing to an experimental drug. Regardless, hoping that conscientious, hesitant Catholics are prepared for great sacrifice. The law may soon ridiculously compel us to ring a bell and call out “unclean” in the public square.
Pushing of the vaccine by Pope Francis is based on his opinion, not on doctrine. Therefore, the faithful are not bound by his edict. It should also be noted that a number of hierarchy have publicly disagreed with Francis concerning the vaccines. Furthermore, Pope Francis does not address the controversy that has arisen with respect to the safety of the vaccines with over 400,000 adverse effects, including over 11,000 deaths, being reported to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System) supported by CDC. These vaccines are still experimental in nature with clinical trials continuing through 2023.
By 
This is the sort of thing that undermines the credibility of Catholic bishops. “Embarrassment?” That sounds like an awfully flimsy excuse for not having the backs of the faithful, but after the church closures of 2021, why should we expect any better?
Well, I guess that settles it: the Catholic Church is a Church that is perfectly comfortable with the use the cell lines of aborted (murdered, reallty) babies.
.
https://www.pdcnet.org/C1257D43006C9AB1/file/5265B61D5497F52585257D94004802BB/$FILE/ncbq_2006_0006_0003_0077_0099.pdf
.
The article is interesting,the footnotes are sometimes heartbreaking.
.
The Church demands “respect” for the human body, hence the hierarchy fights against cremation and so-called “liquid cremation.” Nevertheless, it is perfectly moral to use the cell lines of intentionally killed children for any variety of uses: from vaccines to flavoring tests to beauty products (https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/fetalproductsall.pdf.)
.
This is respect??
I guess you know what the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has to say about this:
“…all vaccinations recognized as clinically safe and effective can be used in good conscience with the certain knowledge that the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells used in production of the vaccines derive.”
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html
Yes, I am very well aware. As noted: the Catholic Church is perfectly comfortable with items derived from murdered children some 48 years ago. Incidentally, fetal tissue research is an ongoing reality. Who knows, maybe in 30, 40, 50 years the cure for cancer will be found because of an abortion that occurred this morning?
.
Ah, that would be an irony wouldn’t it? Some priest or pro-lifer protesting at a clinic where abortions are occuring, only to benefit from the death of a baby whose murder they were protesting?
.
Soooo, guess we should not be concerned. Greater good and all that.
Kathryn,
Your personal computer makes use of one or more microprocessors, the developments of which were accelerated by NASA’s goal of landing a man on the moon, which in turn made use of technology developed by the German rocket scientist Werner von Braun, who helped to develop for Hitler’s Third Reich the V2 rocket that killed many people in England. Later in life, Werner introduces this video, with a reference to a “God given ability”:
Ultimate Saturn V Launch with Enhanced Sound
There is cures for most all cancers but big medicine through the pharmaceutical companies as well as hospitals that specialize in treating cancer will not let these cures come into the public eye. Just like as an example squashing the gasoline cars that could get 100 mpg big oil would never let this happen. Cancer is curable the media propaganda will say no it isn’t.
Yes, all of the pharmaceutical companies are involved in a secret conspiracy to withhold medications from dying people so they can make a profit. The earth is also flat; climate change is real; and the moon landings were all faked on a movie studio set.
Peisistratos,
You have done a service to the Church with your posting.
While the CDF article should be sufficient to provide practical guidance for practicing Catholics, an even more detailed analysis is available:
Cooperation, appropriation, and vaccines relying on fetal cell line research, by Stephan Kampowski, for The Catholic World Report
January 24, 2021
I do not have any doubt that much of what we use in our every day life without a single though is tainted in some fashion with someone’s death, or someone being enslaved, or child labor, etc.
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These vaccines are being pushed on us by our own hierarchy, and for a good many of of, are neither necessary nor wanted.
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On this kind of thing is ongoing.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pittsburgh-fetal-tissue-project
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Want to put an end to it?? Stop buying these products. Simply complaining will not do any good. It would help if the Hierarchy were on our side.
Quite apart from anything else, nobody can require us as Catholics to provide a note from a priest, because the civil authorities don’t get to define what our religion is or what our consciences say. So if, for example, a nondenominational “Bible Christian” who acknowledged no church hierarchy or an atheist could say “It’s against my conscience” and be told, “Oh, well, that’s your call,” I think it would count as illegal discrimination to insist that the Catholic had to have a note.
This does seem to be the issue on which the Catholic Church has shipwrecked itself, not only in its cooperation with products of abortion, but in its failure to grasp the truth of the matter on every level.
Not vaccines
No grave threat
Ignored alternatives etc, etc, etc.
But nonetheless confidently onboard with the narrative. What the hell is going on?
I never heard the Catholic Church or the USCCB use the term “embarrassment to the archdiocese” when the scandals of the priesthood is exposed, from either homosexual acts, pedophilia or stealing money from the Catholic faithful. Why is it not an embarrassment that the truths of the Catholic faith have not been taught, such as the Holy Eucharist is the body and blood soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, not a symbol, also you cannot receive Our Lord , when in the state of mortal sin. We need to pray for our Shepherd’s for holiness and courage.
“Any treatment which claims to
save human lives, yet is based upon the destruction of human life in its embryonic state, is
logically and morally contradictory, as is any production of human embryos for the direct
or indirect purpose of experimentation or eventual destruction.” John Paul II, Address to
the Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (November 10, 2003).
I don’t need a priest to grant me an exemption from taking the currently available, morally compromised vaccines. My conscience does that for me. Pope Francis has stated that there is a moral obligation to take the vaccines, but all the ones that are available have some connection to research on fetal cells obtained through abortions. Taking any of them implies an approval of such medical research going forward. If the Church had stood firm in the beginning of the pandemic and told people not to receive immorally produced vaccines, don’t you think we would have had at least one vaccine (Sorrento) that wasn’t researched, produced or tested by immoral methods? The hierarchy takes away religious freedom of conscience? Aren’t they acting, then, like the secular government? Shame.
Pope Francis isn’t infallible unless he declares the moral responsibility to receive the currently available vaccines a matter of Dogma.
Madam, you are absolutely correct. Me, I’m battling to remember when it was this particular pope defined or even defended a dogma ?
During the Bergoglian captivity we have all come to be supremely confident that episcopate holds the interest of the faithful paramount. We’ve seen it demonstrated in its ardent concern for the faithful comprising the underground Church in China, those who find their liturgical devotion enhanced by participating in the sacrifice of the Mass according to the Ancient Rite, and the suppression of the Eucharist globally when it was deemed to be a threat to temporal existence, ad infinitum…
What is wrong with this picture?
A trust deliberately trashed will not be easily restored.
I am very disappointed in the arch diocese. I will move forward with a request for religious exemption despite their office. And if denied I’ll accept any consequence. I think the diocese statement is a disgrace I’ll be sure to give my money to true Christian work.
Mother theresas nuns who do look after the poorest of the poor 🙏you will never recieve reguestbafter reguestb for more money. You will though recieve a tax receipt and a sincere thank you
I have read Francis’ exhortations composed for him. I have no idea if he ever read them. Most of the content was good. Sections were blatantly sophist. By ignoring the Dubia, Francis has refused to answer simple, self-evident questions about exceptionless norms of the negative precepts of the natural law that any theology freshman taking a first course in moral theology could handle with ease. Before the whole world he has made consistently stupid remarks about abortion, from forceful but insensitive remarks that authentic pro-lifers never make, characterizing a troubled woman in a crisis pregnancy as hiring a hitman, to remarks that trivialize abortion as an obsession, to praise for the world’s most savage abortionists and promoters. I exercise simple honesty, not disrespect, to say I know of no reason to take the advice of a pope I regard as a profound fool on matters of morality.
“This concern is particularly acute among people who are strongly pro-life and very loyal to the teaching of the faith,” the memo stated.
So, it sounds like, if you’re “very loyal” to the faith you’re some kind of idiot.
“Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I refused getting vaccinated without asking you for exemption.”
Agreed that we are morally obligated to pursue knowledge of this Corona spike protein being used in an injection involving multiple vital organs and the reproductive system for the good of self and others, including the preview. However, even as composing this response, new data is forthcoming and as it relates to variants and long and short term benefits or harm. Moreover, one has to evaluate the degree of emergency in rushing to an experimental drug. Regardless, hoping that conscientious, hesitant Catholics are prepared for great sacrifice. The law may soon ridiculously compel us to ring a bell and call out “unclean” in the public square.
Pushing of the vaccine by Pope Francis is based on his opinion, not on doctrine. Therefore, the faithful are not bound by his edict. It should also be noted that a number of hierarchy have publicly disagreed with Francis concerning the vaccines. Furthermore, Pope Francis does not address the controversy that has arisen with respect to the safety of the vaccines with over 400,000 adverse effects, including over 11,000 deaths, being reported to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System) supported by CDC. These vaccines are still experimental in nature with clinical trials continuing through 2023.