Let’s Discuss It:  COVID vaccine misinformation violates human rights, says Pope Francis

If your Catholic social media is anything like mine, there will be chatter about the statement by Pope Francis last Friday. He has come out once more in support of COVID vaccines and is de facto supportive of government policies to implement vaccine rollouts.

One of my social media groups - made up of Catholic teachers  - was alive with discussion on this latest statement this week.  The members of this group all agree on many things; we love Christ and His Church; we love and respect the See of Peter and we disagree with Pope Francis’ most recent statement directed at Catholic media organisations on the importance of cracking down on what Pope Francis calls “misinformation”.

So, what did the Pope say?  Well, he was talking to a consortium of journalists and Catholic media outlets that have formed the organisation Catholic Fact Checking https://catholic-factchecking.com/category/i-media-articles/.  Even the idea of a Catholic fact checking organisation is a strange new development in the world of Catholic media. It has not arisen due to a rise in heresy resulting in a wellspring of theological untruths infecting Catholics. No, it is aimed at supressing alternative ideas about vaccines and vaccine mandates in favour of the prevailing preferred position by Pope Francis, that everyone gets vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Here are some quotes from the statement:

“To be properly informed, to be helped to understand situations based on scientific data and not fake news, is a human right,”.

“Correct information must be ensured above all to those who are less equipped, to the weakest and to those who are most vulnerable.”

“We can hardly fail to see that these days, in addition to the pandemic, an ‘infodemic’ is spreading A distortion of reality based on fear, which in our global society leads to an explosion of commentary on falsified if not invented news,”

What is the Pope’s motivation for making such statements? For some in my social media group, the Pope is simply misled on the matter of the vaccines, perhaps, they might say, he has himself been fed disinformation.  For others, the Pope is fully aware of what is going on and he is complicit with the corporations and governments. In other words, he is completely up to his neck in this.

Motivations are tricky things. Like many Catholics, I have an uneasy relationship with Pope Francis. I desire with all my heart to want to love him in the way I loved St John Paul II and still love Pope Benedict XVI. I’m not alone in this, as the years have gone by, I have observed more and more concern about some of the personal opinions of Pope Francis.  I have had to talk down Catholics more than once from the temptation of leaving the barque of Peter and this latest statement, I am sure will cause even more hurt and confusion.

On the face of it, we may agree that it is unhelpful to be inundated with incorrect information. It can and indeed it has caused people to make poor decisions when adhered to. However, his argument is philosophically flawed.  Since the implication is that it is evil to spread “misinformation” relies heavily on the definition of “misinformation”. In addition, “misinformation” to one person or organisation may be considered true and helpful to another.  It comes down to the authority of the person declaring certain information as true.

Therefore, the word “misinformation” along with “fake news” has been heavily weaponized by anyone who wants to hold their perspective as the superior viewpoint. Catholics should be very sceptical of accepting any secular authority’s idea of “correct information”. For example, in my own country of New Zealand our leader Jacinda Ardern made the direct claim that the New Zealand government is “your single source of truth” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENEUktOrQV8 ).

I am disappointed with Pope Francis for this statement, and I am disappointed with media outlets that restrict other voices that are considered false. This is the opposite of how journalism should function. Let’s have all the voices discuss the issues and not supress some viewpoints. Equally I’m disappointed with those Catholic media outlets that would consider an article like this one, to be “false news” or “dangerous” because I hold a different perspective.

I know too many good Catholics who have chosen for prudential reasons not to take this vaccine. They have used their own faith and reason, the light of the church and prayer to make their decision. It wasn’t taken lightly, and it has resulted in hardship for the large majority. Personally, I lost my job for my choice. However, I have no regrets much to the dismay of anyone who wants me to “get with the program.”   In the process of making a personal medical decision, I and many others besides have been told we are immoral, don’t love our brothers and sisters and are disobedient to the church.

At the heart of the problem of who is right on the matter of vaccines and vaccine mandates is one passage with two lines that seem to contradict one another in the Vatican document.

“Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines” (https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html)

“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. In any case, from the ethical point of view, the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one's own health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good.”

When talking to Catholics who think that mandating vaccines is a positive good, I point out the first sentence of this statement. The church is clear, that vaccinations are not, as a rule a moral obligation and therefore, must be voluntary. Nonetheless, others are attacking some unvaccinated Catholics by referring to the second point that the morality of vaccination depends on the common good. The implication is that unvaccinated Catholics do not care about the common good. However, the second phrase does not cancel out the first phrase and I don’t know of any Catholics who having decided against the vaccination have disregarded the second point. They all, as far as I can tell, behave with due caution and prudence, care, and a great deal of love for their neighbour. Contrary to the notion that they do not care for the common good, they are sincerely concerned for the common good, and believe that the vaccination outcomes may be negative for many people.

Two sincerely held ideas. Time will tell which side of the argument stands in history as the correct one. Ultimately though, prayerful, prudential judgment in the light of the church, faith and reason will never fail and must always be upheld as a gold standard of how to behave in a moral conflict.