By Cian Molloy - 13 August, 2020
The Northern Irish based pro-life group Precious Life have taken issue with a pro-vaccine statement issued by the
Catholic Bishops of England and Wales.
Last week, Bishops Paul Mason of Southwark and John Sherrington, auxiliary in Westminster, urged people to avail of any COVID-19 vaccination that might become available, even if that vaccine might have been developed using cell cultures originally harvested from aborted human foetuses some 60 years ago.
“Human society has often benefited from the wrongs done in the past for which we must repent,” the two bishops wrote in a three-page document titled The Catholic Position on Vaccination.
They stated: “We wouldn’t deny life-saving vaccination because of its dubious historic provenance”.
However, Bernadette Smyth, director of Precious Life, says the two men have “completely overlooked the ethically produced alternative vaccines that exist to prevent the spread of COVID-19”.
At present, a number of possible vaccines are being developed around the world, but none has yet passed clinical trials.
“If any Catholics are convinced of the merits of vaccination, then the bishops should be only be promoting ethically produced vaccines to them, instead of putting the faithful in unnecessary jeopardy by implying that it is ok to be complicit in abortion,” said Ms Smyth, who was absolute in her belief that using culture cells developed from aborted human cells could never be acceptable.
She said: “We expect more from Catholic bishops. They have a duty of responsibility to guide the faithful and condemn all vaccines that use cells from aborted babies.”
However, Bishops Mason and Sherrington said: “We live with the benefits of very questionable medical experimentation.”
