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Rome – Pope Francis suggested that people have a moral obligation to receive one of the new coronavirus vaccines as soon as possible, revealing in a new interview that he hopes to receive his own first dose this week.
“I think morally everyone should be vaccinated,” the pontiff said in a January 10 interview with Italy’s TG5 news program. “It is the moral choice because it is about your life but also about the lives of others.”
The Pope, who said he has already made an appointment with the Vatican health service for his own vaccine, also regretted that some people are saying that they will not be vaccinated.
“I don’t understand why some say this could be a dangerous vaccine,” Francis said. “If the doctors present this to you as something that will work out well and there is no special danger, why not take it?”
“There is a suicidal denial that I could not explain but today people must be vaccinated,” the pontiff continued.
Francis’s comments are the latest in a series of strong signals to the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics that he and the Vatican strongly support the global vaccination effort.
In early December, the Vatican’s doctrinal office issued an unusually quick note saying it is “morally acceptable” for Catholics to take the new vaccines. And the Vatican’s own health service is about to begin offering the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to city-state residents, staff and their families.
Francis did not specifically say when he would receive the vaccine and the Vatican has not offered further comment on the pope’s plans.
The pontiff also spoke in the interview about the January 6 violent attack on the United States Capitol, saying it left him “in awe” and surprised that such a scene could unfold in a country with a long history of democratic practice.
When asked how his daily life has changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Francis said he first felt “caged” during the closure of Italy in the spring of 2020, but then “calmed down.”
“I took life as it came,” the Pope said. “You pray more, you talk more, you use the phone more.”
Francis also mentioned that he had to cancel several of his planned trips abroad, making 2020 the first year without papal trips outside of Italy since 1979. The Pope revealed that he is not sure whether his plan to visit Iraq in March will go ahead.
“In conscience, I can’t cause assemblies, right?” said the pontiff. “Now, I don’t know if the next trip to Iraq will be made.”
“It has changed our lives,” Francis said of the pandemic. “But the Lord always helps us.”
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