LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) When it comes to two of the COVID-19 vaccines, the Catholic Church says getting the shot is considered “morally justified”, given the urgency of the pandemic.
As Catholics in Lafayette celebrated New Year’s Day mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Very Reverend Father Chester Arceneaux told the congregation about a faithful parishioner who recently passed away from complications caused by COVID-19.
“We lost one of our elderly parishioners,” said Father Arceneaux. “She a passed away yesterday from complications of Covid. She was always faithful. In that first pew, up until a couple of weeks ago. Please keep her family. They didn’t say goodbye the way they like to. Those are difficult times.”
“I had two buried here at the cathedral. Two funerals in the past couple of weeks that were covid related,” said Father Arceneaux.
The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops recently expressed its support of the coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. They call the vaccines “good news” and offer a “sense of hope”. But the question was raised, whether vaccines were developed with cells of aborted babies.
The Catholic church is against abortion. Some common vaccines are developed from cells taken from an aborted human fetuses.
After study by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, it was determined the vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna only are “morally justified”, because of the connection between an abortion decades ago and a vaccine produced today is remote.
As the pandemic continues, with the number of infections and deaths climbing, Father Areceneaux told those gathered at mass to remember the people and families impacted by the virus.
“We remember those family who are grieving. We remember those families who are struggling. Those who are sick, but mostly our care workers, our caretakers, in the hospitals. in the nursing homes for the home bound.”
