VACCINES NECESSARY IN FIGHT, POPE SAYS

In a sweeping speech on the pandemic and other global issues, Pope Francis on Monday called for widespread vaccination in all countries and suggested the global coronavirus response was being complicated by “baseless information or poorly documented facts.”

“Vaccines are not a magical means of healing,” Francis said. “Yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease.”

Countries that have widely used vaccines, the pope noted, have seen a reduction in severe cases.

“It is therefore important to continue the effort to immunize the general population as much as possible,” Francis said.

Francis’ remarks on the pandemic came at the beginning of a 35-minute address to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, an annual speech that doubles as a primer on the pope’s worldview. Many of his remarks Monday were familiar, as Francis hit on themes at the center of his pontificate, including climate change and migration, while also drawing attention to global hot spots such as Yemen and Syria.

But the pope homed in on an idea that he felt connected the crises — challenges he said required global responses.

He said mistrust was part of the problem in the response to the pandemic.

Vaccine resistance cuts across nearly all religions, and in Catholicism, some conservatives have critiqued the use of vaccines, based on the use of cell lines derived from aborted fetuses. But the Vatican has made clear that it feels otherwise. Its doctrinal body said last year that coronavirus vaccines were morally acceptable. More recently, the Holy See issued a vaccine mandate for all employees. Francis, meanwhile, has described vaccination as an “act of love.”

As part of his speech, Francis delved into one other effect of the pandemic: school closures and remote learning. Many young people have taken refuge in “virtual realities,” the pontiff said, in ways that could be detrimental and isolating.