The Vatican issued a decree saying employees who do not get the COVID-19 vaccine would lose their jobs before turning back amid widespread criticism.
The Feb. 8 edict of Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, governor of Vatican City, said workers who refused to get vaccinated without sufficient reason would be subject to a 2011 law that provides for “varying degrees of consequences that could lead to dismissal” .
Thousands of workers travel from Italy to the small city-state, and many Italians turned to social media to deny the order, calling it ruthless and at odds with Pope Francis’ teachings.
On Thursday night, Bertello said “alternative solutions” would be found for government officials who refused to receive the vaccine.
Some anti-abortion advocates have ethical objections to coronavirus vaccines that were created with stem cells.
In December, Vatican officials endorsed the inoculations of COVID-19 in a statement that said: “It is morally acceptable to receive vaccines from Covid-19 that used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.”
Pope Francis received his first injection with former Pope Benedict XVI in January, when the Vatican launched its vaccination program COVID-19.
The fragile Catholic Church leader demanded that journalists covering his trip to Iraq next month receive the vaccine.
Only about 800 people live in the 108-acre nation, which has seen less than 30 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began; most of them between the Swiss Guard, who live in a community barracks.
Wired Poles