President Joe Biden is determined to get every single American injected with the COVID-19 vaccine, and on Tuesday, he implied that those who don’t are disobeying the Pope.
According to the Catholic News Agency, the president praised community health centers and religious groups for clubbing together to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, saying they were “an example of America at its finest.” He further stated that “they're all meeting what Pope Francis calls the moral obligation - get vaccinated - something which he went on to say can save your life and the lives of others.”
A January interview that the White House cited as their source showed Pope Francis stating “I believe that, ethically, everyone has to get the vaccine," saying he believes the shot is “an ethical option because it concerns your life but also that of others.”
But in December of last year, the Pope approved a statement from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which declared that getting vaccinated was not a moral obligation.
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“At the same time, practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary,” their statement read.
The CDF added that those who choose to avoid vaccinations should be diligently careful of infecting others.
“In the absence of other means to stop or even prevent the epidemic, the common good may recommend vaccination, especially to protect the weakest and most exposed,” they said.