Florida’s attorney general received a sharp rebuke and some ecclesiastical instruction from the state’s Catholic bishops after he threatened to block funding to Catholic schools unless the church complies with the state’s anti-vaccine policies, which are purportedly intended to uphold religious freedom.
On July 31, Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a contentious letter to the bishops concerning exemptions to school vaccination requirements. Florida law mandates that public and private schools permit vaccination exemptions on religious grounds. However, Catholic schools in the state do not accept religious exemptions; Florida’s Catholic dioceses endorse vaccination and recognize no theological objections to it. The schools exclusively accept exemptions for medical conditions verified by a healthcare provider.
Uthmeier, a Catholic himself, wrote an open letter to the bishops stating that, based on his understanding of Catholicism, he saw “no legitimate religious reason to refuse granting religious exemptions.” He reviewed select theological positions on the use of “abortion-derived vaccines” and suggested to the bishops that it was “morally reprehensible” for them not to grant religious exemptions.
Beyond sharing his personal interpretations with the bishops, Uthmeier threatened to withhold state scholarships and vouchers from Catholic schools if they did not alter their stance.
“Far from hallow”
The bishops responded with their own letter, which they released publicly last week. They firmly rejected Uthmeier’s legal and theological arguments, while also noting that they were being unnecessarily accommodating in explaining why he was mistaken. “The Catholic bishops in Florida do not have to justify to your office their position on Catholic teaching and their reasons for the current vaccine policies,” they stated.
However, “out of respect,” they proceeded to dismantle Uthmeier’s points, referencing the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church, the religion clauses of the First Amendment, state laws, and prior court rulings. In essence, “It is beyond cavil that the bishops, not the state, decide how to interpret and apply Catholic principles and theology.”
They wrote:
The constitutional defect in your office’s inquiry is, therefore, not merely the conclusion it posits, but the inquiry itself. Whether Catholic doctrine requires, permits, or disfavors a particular exemption is a religious question entrusted to Catholic authorities, not state officials. The government may not decide that Church teaching is insufficiently religious, insufficiently consistent with Catholic doctrine, or insufficiently compelling to justify an ecclesiastical policy. Nor may it require Church leaders to defend their interpretation of Catholic doctrine before civil authorities as a condition of operating religious schools.
Regarding the threat to withhold educational scholarships and other funding, the bishops deemed it “far from hallow and legally incorrect.”
“The state cannot disqualify Catholic schools from the scholarship program merely because a state official’s views differ from the bishops’ views.”
Vaccine and the common good
Concerning their position on vaccines, the bishops explained their policy by first addressing a common religion-related criticism of vaccines: that their production involves the use of cell cultures originally developed from fetuses aborted in the 1960s. Although these cell lines are still in use, no new fetal cells or abortions are involved, and the vaccines are purified so that no fetal tissue remains in the immunizations.
Some, like Uthmeier, contend that using such vaccines contradicts the church’s belief in the sanctity of life. However, the church has repeatedly clarified that this is not the case. The Florida bishops cited a 2017 document from the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Italian Bishops’ Conference, which states that getting vaccinated “does not signify some sort of cooperation with voluntary abortion” and can be done “with a clear conscience.” The Florida bishops further clarified that it is “morally permissible” for parents to have their children vaccinated for the same reason.
The bishops acknowledged that some parents might still disagree, and for those parents, they “are free to choose a different educational path for their children. Catholic virtual schooling and home schooling are among them,” the bishops wrote.
Their vaccine policy is “rooted in the desire to protect the common good and to encourage the proportional benefits of utilizing vaccines,” the bishops stated. “This position is rooted in our Catechism: ‘Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good.’”
The bishops noted that the vaccines not only protect healthy children but also vulnerable individuals within their schools, including children who cannot be vaccinated due to medical conditions, expectant teachers, and elderly parents and grandparents.
State context
The bishops’ stance against Uthmeier occurs as Florida’s Republican leaders continue to challenge life-saving vaccines and vaccination requirements. Last year, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced that the state intended to end all vaccination requirements, including those for school children. He controversially claimed that every vaccine requirement “drips with disdain and slavery.”
On Monday, the state proposed a rule to eliminate requirements for children to be vaccinated against chickenpox, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type B, and pneumococcal to attend school. The rule would also broaden religious exemptions.
The bishops’ letter highlights a fallacy frequently employed by anti-vaccine advocates: that undermining vaccines and dismantling vaccination requirements upholds religious freedom, when in reality, it can be an assault on that freedom. Just on Monday, anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed weakening the language of federal vaccine recommendations “in favor of individual autonomy and religious freedom.” However, no major religion worldwide prohibits vaccinations, and most encourage and embrace them as a common good, much like the Catholic bishops.
The bishops concluded their letter by noting that they periodically review their vaccine policy. Nevertheless, they affirmed their firm rejection of religious exemptions and stated they “will not succumb to affronts to religious freedom.”
