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Mexican episcopate won’t cover medical expenses of priests with COVID-19 who aren’t vaccinated

David Ramos By David Ramos for CNA

The Toluca Cathedral, in Toluca, Mexico. (Image: Obed Hernández/Unsplash.com)

Mexico City, Mexico, Sep 17, 2021 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

The financial assistance service of the Mexican bishops’ conference stated last month that it will not cover the medical expenses of priests with COVID-19 who chose not to be vaccinated against the disease.

In an Aug. 30 statement, the service provided by the episcopal conference which assists diocesan priests warned that to help with the expenses involving COVID-19 it is required that the priest “was vaccinated” and “maintained personal protection measures.”

In addition, priests who require financial assistance from the service for their medical care must “notify their diocesan representative early” and get a medical evaluation by calling the service’s special telephone line for outpatient cases, which can direct them to the proper medical facility for an appointment on the nearest date.

OCEAS states on its website that it is an in-house service of the Mexican bishops’ conference  “that participates with each bishop in his diocese to carry out the work of Priestly Social Assistance.”

The purpose of the service is to attend to “to the clergy in their health, needed rest, old age or disability needs so that they can carry out the mission that God has entrusted to them according to the stage of life in which they find themselves.”

In its Aug. 30 statement, OCEAS said that “the last three weeks have been really complicated for the community of our different dioceses”, because “we have seen our brother priests pass away due to lack of timely notification.”

OCEAS noted that “98% of COVID cases that ended in death had three particular characteristics: 1. They were not vaccinated when they could have been. 2. Late notification (oxygen level less than 80%). 3. More than 60% of the lung surface affected.”

After assuring that they will continue to “help with the expenses incurred by the medical care of the beneficiaries under the criteria of solidarity and search for the common good,” OCEAS specified four cases in which “they will not be subject” to paying for amounts the priest cannot pay out of his own pocket.

First, “when the beneficiary took unnecessary risks such as attending indoor entertainment venues or meetings, conventions and non-essential activities or outside the scope of his pastoral activity.”

The second exclusion criterion is for those priests who, after testing positive for COVID-19, despite having been notified that they have risk factors that would complicate their case, refuse to “go to a hospital for an evaluation, rejecting the possibility of timely medical care.”

A third case in which priests will not be able to receive an additional amount of financial assistance is when they “deliberately” put “their life and that of their community at risk, by omitting the use of masks due to a personal decision that affects priests at the national level and the People of God.”

The last case mentioned for which priests will not be able to receive additional amounts for COVID-19 care is “when the beneficiary decides not to get vaccinated, putting his life and that of his community at risk.”

The statement, signed by Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca, treasurer of the Mexican bishops’ conference and president of OCEAS, ends by stressing that “the above measures will allow us to take more care of our health and that of our community.”

“We don’t want more priests dying when it could have been avoided, their life is valuable to us and irreplaceable for the community that follows them,” he concluded.

More than 3.5 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Mexico, and more than 269,000 deaths.

At least six bishops and 245 priests in the country have died from COVID-19.


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13 Comments

  1. I find this horrific. It is incomprehensible to me how a faithful Catholic Bishop could consider the abortion tainted vaccines morally permissible, much less push taking them on the faithful. I have read the statements on remote cooperation and it strikes me as saying “it’s only a little bit satanic and, although poison for your soul, worth taking for your bodily well being.” It prioritizes the temporal over the eternal.

  2. The amount of un-Christian behavior on the part of our hierarchy and others who claim to be Christian is astonishing. These people ought to read the book of Job, where the notion that those who suffer misfortune must have sinned is thoroughly discredited. That seems to be the assertion underlying discourse today: anyone who develops Covid symptoms is a manifest unrepentant sinner who should be excommunicated permanently. What utter nonsense– especially for a Christian to support. It’s hard to imagine Jesus not being ashamed of such prelates and saying, “I do not know you,” at the Pearly Gates. Christians are called to care for the sick, not berate them for being sick.

    • Can’t agree more. What are these Bishops thinking. Their address should be published so the faithful provide comments such as yours directly to them.

  3. The Roman Catholic episcopate — “globally” — appears to be stuck on the zeitgeist. They have abandoned all credibility. They have jumped into something which they regard as a lifeboat but which, but for the grace of God, will not end well.
    In the meantime, souls are being lost, and they don’t care. They have abandoned the Faith.

  4. So, the Church in Mexico is telling priests to violate their consciences or die. In other words, support immoral research that led to the vaccines, or at least to their efficacy testing, or we will ostracize you. Well, I don’t think God will ever ostracize those who have formed a conscience. He will welcome them with open arms!

  5. I just saw someone post they believe that if a person refuses the vaccine, they should also refuse medical help for Covid. 🙄 Okay..Let’s break this down.. Why don’t we ask patients this before any treatment is provided for any ailments…
    Lung cancer patient… have you ever smoked cigarettes? Oh, yeah? You smoked for 10 years but recently quit? I am so sorry, but no chemo options are available to you since you chose to partake in something known to cause cancer.
    Melanoma patient… did you always wear sunscreen when you went outside? Oh, you wore tanning spray instead? Sorry, no treament bc you chose to do something that has been known to cause skin cancer.
    Obese Diabetic… I’m sorry you have chosen to eat unhealthy, but we can no longer give you insulin because your personal choices have led you to become overweight and sick. You should’ve eaten more salad.
    Car accident victim… did you wear your seat belt? Oh, no??? Sorry… bleed out. You know better than to take that risk… it’s the law!
    College kid with an STD… did you use protection? Oh, you didnt feel like it??? Well, sorry I can’t help you… you didn’t take the preventive measures suggested by the CDC to avoid this sickness. 😬😬😬
    No healthcare provider should EVER say these things! Because it isn’t your place or my place to tell someone how to live, or to deny them care when they get sick. God gives us personal choice… it isn’t up to anyone living to take that away. Every day we choose to do things that may ‘take us out’. If you decide unvaxxed people don’t deserve treatment… then it should go for illness around the board. Right? They’re all preventative… diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease… They’re all at epidemic proportions… hundreds of thousands of people are sick due to lifestyle choices… to deny anyone medical care sounds insane right?
    Apparently some people are just that petty.
    Grow up.
    If you want a vaccine, great. If you don’t, cool. Wear a mask after putting that cigarette out because you care about respiratory health, awesome.🙄 Eat that cake before your next dose of insulin… right on. 🤨 Fried chicken with 90% blockage, eat it up.😬 If you think I sound ridiculous right now that’s because this debate is absolutely ridiculous. I think it is great we have a vaccine as an option if you want it. If someone doesn’t because they don’t feel it is right for them that’s understandable, too! It’s not a sure thing. It’s not well known. This is ALL new territory. Grace is required here. We are all dying from the moment we take our first breath. Does medicine have a place to help people get well? Yes!!! Thank God for it! Will it save you from death… no… So leave people to make their own choices about how they want to live. If you choose to be in the medical field you have chosen to help sick people NO MATTER HOW they get sick. And, hats off to so many men and women who do it!
    But… If you don’t want to help everyone, then you need a new field to practice in. You took an oath. I certainly don’t want to see someone when I’m sick who thinks certain groups with certain beliefs and their own opinions (opposite of mine or not) don’t deserve healthcare.

    • “If you choose to be in the medical field you have chosen to help sick people NO MATTER HOW they get sick.”
      .
      Actually, if folks did as you suggest (basically, proper diet and exercise, no smoking) the medical field would loose out on a lot of money. My doctor, pharmacist, and GlaxonSmithKline don’t make enough money off of me to buy a daily cup of coffee. The medical care industry only makes money off of sick people. Truly healthy people only make money for the medical insurance industry.

    • Great points. As for the origin of this virus, how about our country not only blame China but also refuse to trade with China, thereby denying ourselves the goods we need. NO, China, we will not trade with you because you allowed people to leave your country and unleash the virus on us. NO, China, our country will not buy your manufactured pharmaceuticals or PPE (which we need), because you do not ‘deserve’ our business.

    • Hmmm. And will OCEAS refuse to cover the expenses for treatment of a priest who develops AIDS if it is the result of homosexual activity? I’m guessing not.

  6. Experts looking at VAERS Data point out the unacceptable Excess Death: Life Ratio related to the vaccine. Their analysis reveals that one life saved by the the Covid vaccine requires two deaths. This is completely unacceptable.

    What about the Catholic hierarchy providing care for their priests by covering the costs for early treatment measures for Covid 19 since there are safe, extremely effective and less costly ways to treat covid outside mandating the vaccines and there are excellent, world-renown physicians who have successfully treated 1000s of covid patients on an outpatient basis.

    For more info go to: truthforhealth.org or earlycovidcare.org or covid19criticalcare.com or americasfrontlinedoctors.org

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