No religious exemptions for COVID vaccination, Las Vegas bishop says

The Diocese of Las Vegas will not issue exemptions on religious grounds to persons who don’t wish to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, according to Bishop George Leo Thomas.

In a letter Monday to priests and pastors, Thomas wrote that, in recent weeks, “some of our pastors have reported that a small number of parishioners have come to them requesting a religious exemption for the COVID vaccination.”

“I’d say it’s only a rather small number, but pastors have brought this to my attention,” Thomas said Tuesday.

The requests may be related to concerns about the use of fetal tissue in the vaccines’ development and testing, Thomas said. “Nothing that specific has come to my attention … but I’m speculating what might be behind it.”

In his message to diocesan clergy, Thomas wrote that Pope Francis over the past several months has “made it clear that the various forms of COVID vaccines are morally acceptable, urging Catholics across the globe to become vaccinated, not only for their own safety and well-being but also out of concern for the weak and vulnerable in our midst.”

He also noted that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on doctrine has “affirmed the moral acceptability of the COVID vaccines, in light of the gravity of the present pandemic.”

Issuing a religious exemption would contradict the counsel and moral leadership of Pope Francis, Thomas wrote. “Therefore, I am advising the priests of our Diocese to refrain from issuing letters of exemption on religious grounds.”

But, Thomas said, parishioners remain “free to assert their right to declare conscience objections on medical or moral grounds should they so desire.”

While there doesn’t seem to be a groundswell of religious-exemption seekers in Southern Nevada right now, area clergy seem likely to face more of them as workplaces and public entertainment venues reopen to the vaccinated.

Pastor Paul Marc Goulet, senior leader of International Church of Las Vegas, fielded his first request for one about two months ago.

“I’ve had one ask me for it and one or two who said, ‘Would you ever do that?’ ” Goulet said. “I would probably say yes based on their right to make their own decision.

“I am 100 percent not against vaccines. This is not something evil or bad. However, the one religious exemption I would give is, I do not believe it should be mandated by the government.”

The Rev. Scott Hove, executive pastor of Good Samaritan Lutheran Church, talked a few weeks ago with “someone who was wondering” about religious exemptions but didn’t ask for one.

If someone were to ask, Hove said he’d first ask why he or she felt they needed an exemption and why they object to a vaccination.

It’s “not to belittle them,” he said, but to determine “what’s behind that? What is it about your faith that would stop you from doing that?”

Contact John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.