Do you still have that relative or Facebook “friend” who is alternating posts of anti-vaxx memes and Bible verses? Well, Pope Francis has your back, Catholic fam.
The Pope—recognized by Catholics worldwide as the head of the Church and the representative of God on earth—has added his voice to a public service announcement that calls vaccines everything from “an act of love” to “a moral responsibility.”
The video, which was released August 18 and is aimed at audiences in the Americas, shows Pope Francis and six cardinals and archbishops sharing the message that not only are Covid-19 vaccines are not only safe and effective, but that choosing to get vaccinated is also the responsible choice to make for the sake of other people.
“Thanks to God’s grace and the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from Covid-19,” the Pope says at the beginning of the video message, inexorably linking vaccines to the Almighty.
Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, in the meantime, is direct in saying that the vaccines work: “There is still much to learn about the virus, but one thing is true: the vaccines are effective, and they are here to save lives. They are key to the path of personal and universal healing.”
The video is part of the “It’s Up To You” campaign, which has “trusted messengers” delivering “fact-based and life-saving information to populations hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccines, helping them to make informed decisions for themselves and their families,” says a press release from the Ad Council, which produced the campaign.
Pope Francis ends the video with a message to the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, reminding them that there are many forms of love: “There is social love and political love. It is universal, always overflowing with small individual gestures capable of transforming and improving societies.”
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