By Modesto P. Sa-onoy
Everyone, country and people, await with great expectations of the discovery of a vaccine that will be the cure for the coronavirus and put an end to the pandemic. Plans hinge on this discovery. But so far, no vaccine has been found.
There are reports that China has discovered the cure but there is scepticism that this is true and in fact there is no official announcement that there is. In the event that China has found it, the Philippine government has already announced it will buy from China. An opposition was quickly announced because lack of faith in the credibility of China and the conspiracy theory that had emerged since the beginning of this year that China had unleased the virus precisely for commercial reason- sale of their vaccine; and political reason – Chinese influence in national affairs.
The use of cells from aborted foetus is not new. It was started as early as 50 years ago and now being tested to produce the vaccine against the covid-19 disease. In desperation, people are willing to make use of these foetuses that would increase the incidence and even make abortion less morally objectionable.
LifeSiteNews of August 3 wrote that Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has reiterated his opposition to vaccines created using cell lines from aborted babies. He was reacting to the claim of the United Kingdom bishops that Catholics have a “duty to be vaccinated,” even if the making of the vaccine is morally problematic.
“I renew my call that we reject any vaccine that is developed using aborted children,” Strickland tweeted Aug. 1.
“Even if it originated decades ago it still means a child’s life was ended before it was born and then their body was used as spare parts. We will never end abortion if we do not END THIS EVIL (sic)!”
The bishop posted his comments after the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales stated that Catholics have a “prima facie duty to be vaccinated.”
The CBCEW document noted a 2005 Vatican statement that focused on the moral question of vaccines that have been prepared from cells derived from aborted human foetuses before stating their support for the idea expressed in a 2017 Pontifical Academy for Life statement that “all clinically recommended vaccinations can be used with a clear conscience.”
According to LifeSiteNews, as early as April this year Bishop Strickland had released a pastoral letter asking Catholics to join in helping to bring a “halt” to any development of a coronavirus vaccine derived from aborted foetuses.
LifeSitenews says that on April 23, the bishop wrote that “tragically, people are not aware of, or have chosen to turn a blind eye to the advances in medical science which allow vaccines to be developed with the wholesale use of aborted children’s bodies.”
Strickland stressed that just because “the crime of abortion is considered legal in our nation does not mean it is morally permissible to use the dead bodies of these children to cure a global pandemic. Emphatically, this practice is evil.”
“As your Shepherd,” the bishop wrote, “I urge you to join me, NOW, in passionately but prayerfully speaking out against this practice. As I said in the beginning of this letter, I will help you navigate this storm as best as I can.”
LifeSiteNews also claims that many of the leading coronavirus vaccine candidates in both the UK and the United States are being developed using foetal cell lines that were originally derived from the tissues of aborted babies in the 1970s and 80s.
The publication also quoted the open letter released in May by several Catholic clergy and laity led by former papal nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Cardinals Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, Joseph Zen, and Janis Pujats which said that “for Catholics it is morally unacceptable to develop or use vaccines derived from material from aborted foetuses.”
When people are drowning, they will grab at straws to stay afloat and live. It does not matter what that straw is – the most important thing is survival.
We are not there yet but this will be the dilemma for Catholics and other religious congregations opposed to the use of aborted foetuses as the main component of the planned anti-corona virus. It could lead to the situation that abortion will be encouraged and the aborting mother earning money in the process.
