Vaccine ethics

In a pastoral letter, the Scottish Bishops’ Conference wrote: “We welcome the approval of the first vaccines and hope this will allow an immunisation programme to protect our population and offer the prospect of some return to normal life.

“Society rightly pays attention to the ethical sourcing of commodities to ensure that the benefits do not come at a disproportionate cost. Similar concerns have been raised about vaccines. We reassure that, in accordance with guidance from the Pontifical Academy for Life, it is ethical to take C19 vaccines purchased by the UK at present because foetal cell lines have not been used in their development or because their sourcing is sufficiently remote.” 

Faith and joy

In his Angelus last Sunday, Pope Francis said: “This is joy: directing toward Jesus. And joy must be the characteristic of our faith. And in dark moments, that inner joy, of knowing the Lord is with me, that the Lord is with us, that the Lord is risen. This is the centre of our life, and of our joy.

“Think well: how do I behave? Am I a joyful person who knows how to transmit the joy of being Christian, or am I always like those sad people who seem to be at a funeral wake? If I do not have the joy of my faith, I cannot bear witness and others will say: ‘But if faith is so sad, it is better not to have it.’”       

Elderly suicides

Criticising an Austrian court judgment that the ban on assisted suicide was unconstitutional, Archbishop Franz Lackner said: “Where the option is offered to take one’s own life with the support of others in crisis situations, such as severe illness or old age, the pressure on sick and old people to make use of it increases. You do not want to be a burden to relatives or society or to incur financial costs. Experience from countries where assisted suicide is already permitted, shows shockingly that the number of suicides is increasing sharply, especially among older people.”    

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)