The strange vaccine phobia that has taken hold of the GOP base is also affecting religious folk…. Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the archdiocese of the U.S. military, made some headlines [recently] when he issued a statement affirming that Catholic members of the military can claim a conscientious religious exemption from the government mandate that they get vaccinated. His statement is very precise, and he nowhere contradicts the teaching of the church, specifically the teaching that a person must follow his or her conscience, even if it is erroneously formed.
The idea that the vaccines are tainted because they were tested using a stem cell line derived from an abortion, and in the case of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, that stem cell line was used in the production of the vaccine, is not a Catholic idea.
By giving such fulsome treatment of the abortion-related concerns, while going no further than saying the vaccines are morally “permissible,” Broglio is also sowing confusion. A pastor’s job is only partly to communicate theology. It is also to assess the circumstances of his congregation and help them to apply that theology.
