Pope gives Catholics approval for jabs

THE Pope has said Catholics can get the Covid jab even if the cells of aborted foetuses were used at some point in its production.

It means Catholics can take the Covid-19 vaccine without a guilty conscience because the Church has given the green light.

Bishops and Catholic groups around the world had raised concerns the vaccines were not Catholic-friendly because they used cells from an aborted foetus.

The Catholic Church opposes all forms of abortion since it holds that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.

But the Vatican’s Doctrine office has ruled it is “morally acceptable” because those receiving the jab did not directly participate in abortion.

The Vatican health service has announced it will start to vaccinate residents in the City State and Holy See employees during the first months of 2021.

A note issued by the doctrinal office with the approval of Pope Francis states that while Catholics are forbidden from co-operation with abortion, “all vaccinations recognised 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.

“The moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation is not obligatory if there is a grave danger, such as the otherwise uncontainable spread of a serious pathological agent.”

It does caution, however, the ruling “should not in any way imply there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines proceeding from aborted foetuses” while pharmaceutical companies are encouraged “to produce, approve, distribute and offer ethically acceptable vaccines that do not create problems of conscience.”