ROME — Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann has insisted on the right to conscience objections for those who do not wish to receive the coronavirus vaccines.
“It is important that we reflect on the gravity of the violation involved in coercing a person to do something that he or she believes to be wrong,” Archbishop Naumann wrote in an August 27 letter in reference to vaccine mandates.
While generally favorable to the vaccines and noting that he has himself received vaccination, the archbishop stressed that a society “that fails to respect the rights of conscience lacks a key element of the common good.”
In his letter, Naumann urged all to practice charity towards others regarding coronavirus vaccination mandates.
Protesters line the sidewalk outside the Ohio Statehouse on Tuesday to demonstrate on House Bill 248, “the Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act,” which lawmakers were debating inside. (Brooke LaValley/Columbus Dispatch via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
“Solid facts are helpful. Name-calling and shaming are not,” stated the archbishop, who is also chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. “To punish people who have a sincere difference of opinion is not Christian.”
“A good analogy to our current situation is conscientious objection by draftees in wartime,” he declared. “If a war is not intrinsically unjust, the Church requires Catholics to discern in conscience whether combat service is right or not. Both judgments, conscientious objection or active military roles, can be acceptable to the Church.”
“The most charitable and just posture is to seek to accommodate the consciences of all persons,” he wrote.
Naumann noted that currently, all available coronavirus vaccines have used “abortion-derived cell lines to a greater of lesser extent,” which can cause people to wish to avoid receiving them in conscience.
He also underscored a recent statement by the Vatican’s doctrinal office (CDF) that vaccination is not a moral obligation and therefore “must be voluntary.”
It is “a fundamental pillar of medical ethics that there should be free and informed consent and no coercion when deciding on a medical intervention,” he stated, adding that all of the available vaccines “have some ethical problems.”
“Also, their use of new techniques, accelerated development and clinical trials, and only recent widespread use mean that many questions cannot be answered as to the long-term safety and efficacy of these vaccines,” he added.
Providence, RI RI, Aug 19, 2021 – Anti-Vaccine protesters rally outside the RI State house on Thursday afternoon. (Kris Craig via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
The “grim reality” is that “we live in a society that asserts the killing of an unborn child as a right and allows for the harvesting of cells and organs of aborted children for economic profit,” he declared, which creates a context in which “an individual could reasonably choose not to give even the appearance of indirect encouragement or support to the Culture of Death.”
“The choice to give such prophetic witness also requires the individual to take precautions not to spread the virus,” he added, “just as those receiving the vaccines are obligated to advocate to pharmaceutical companies and government officials to provide vaccines that are not morally tainted.”
“Bishops, priests and the entire Church should support the right and duty of Catholics to obey their consciences,” he wrote.
“I also pray that in combatting this epidemic, we do not create an additional victim, the rights of conscience,” he concluded.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.