On COVID vaccinations, Pope says health care is a 'moral obligation'

The Angelus noon prayer is delivered by Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The person is Gregorio Borgia.

Pope Francis said Monday that people should get vaccine against the coronaviruses because it was a moral obligation.

In a speech to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Francis called for people to get vaccinations, his strongest call yet for people to get the vaccine.

Francis has shied away from speaking about vaccination as a moral obligation, though his COVID-19 advisory body has referred to it as a "moral responsibility." Francis said that vaccination was an act of love and that refusing to get inoculated was suicidal.

On Monday he went further, saying that individuals had a responsibility to care for themselves and that this translated into respect for the health of those around us. He said health care is a moral obligation.

He said that ideological divides were discouraging people from getting vaccinations.

He called for the adoption of a "reality therapy" to correct the distortion of human reason that often comes from baseless information or poorly documented facts.

Vaccines are not a magic cure, but they are the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease, he said.

Some Catholics, including some conservative U.S. bishops and cardinals, have refused to take the vaccine because of its use of cells from aborted fetuses.

The doctrine office of the Vatican said it is morally acceptable for Catholics to receive a vaccine based on research that used cells from aborted fetuses. The Popes have received Pfizer-BioNTech shots.

Francis called for revisions to patent rules so that poorer countries can develop their own vaccines, as he repeated his call for universal access to the shots, particularly in the parts of the world with low vaccination rates.

He said that it was appropriate that the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization adapt their legal instruments to make sure that monopolistic rules don't make it harder to produce and access health care on a global level.