In two US dioceses, the parents of children attending Catholic schools are being told they must have their children vaccinated, regardless of moral qualms.
But critics say such compulsion is contrary to moral advice given by a pontifical academy.
The Church has moral difficulties with certain vaccines, the cell lines for which were originally derived from the cells of aborted foetuses several decades ago.
The moral situation of use of such vaccines was covered by the Pontifical Academy for Life in a 2005 response.
The response stated that parents could be justified in allowing use of such vaccines if there was no other way to protect their children from serious disease.
However, the Vatican document said that parents who chose vaccination would have a moral duty “to make a conscientious objection with regard to those which have moral problems”.
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