Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 72(1) February 2022

In Haec Tempora

Pope Francis talks to pharmacists and insists on right to conscientious objection for heath-care workers over abortion

Pope FrancisHealth workers have a non-negotiable right to conscientious objection if they are asked to participate in an abortion, Pope Francis told a conference of hospital pharmacists in October 2021 [1].

You know that I am very clear about this: [ABORTION] is a homicide
and it is not licit to become an accomplice.

“On an individual level, the pharmacist, each one of you, uses medicinal substances which can become poisons. Here it is a question of exercising constant vigilance, so that the goal is always the patient's life in its entirety. You are always at the service of human life. In some cases this can lead to conscientious objection, which is not disloyalty, but on the contrary fidelity to your profession, if validly motivated. Today there is something of a tendency to think that perhaps it would be a good way to approach conscientious objection. But this is the ethical intimacy of every health professional and this should never be negotiated, it is the ulti-mate responsibility of health professionals. It is also a denunciation of the injustices done to the detriment of innocent and defenceless life. [1] It is a very delicate issue, which requires both great competence and great rectitude. In particular, I have had occasion to return to the subject of abor-tion recently. [2] You know that I am very clear about this: it is a homicide and it is not licit to become an accomplice. Having said that, our duty is to be close to people, our positive duty: to be close to situations, especially women, so that they do not come to think of the abortion solution, because in reality it is not the solution. Then after ten, twenty, thirty years, life sends you the bill. And you have to be in a confessional to understand the price of this, which is so hard.”

So there we are. As our Holy Father says, we are at the service of human life. Abortion is homicide and to act in conscience is our duty. We are responsible to the “patient's life in its entirety. We are always at the service of human life. In some cases this can lead to conscientious objection, which is not disloyalty, but on the contrary fidelity to your profession…

However, he acknowledged the complexity of Conscientious Objection, which “requires both great competence and great rectitude”.

Pushing back against accusations that Catholic doctrine is harsh and unyielding, he said that “our duty is to be close to people, our positive duty: to be close to situations, especially women, so that they do not come to think of abortion as the solution.”

On abortion he said “I am very clear about this: it is a homicide and it is not licit to become an accomplice. It was at least the third time in a month [2] that Francis has denounced abortion, which has become a major political issue in many countries, especially the United Sta tes.

In an in-flight press conference in September on the way home after a four-day journey to Hun-gary and Slovakia he declared: “Abortion is more than an issue. Abortion is murder … It’s a human life, period.”[3]

References

  1. Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the participants in the congress promoted by the Italian society of Hospital Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Services of Health Authorities. Thursday, 14 October 2021. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2021/october/documents/20211014-farmaceutica-ospedaliera.html
  2. Pullella Philip (2021 October 14) Pope says health workers' conscientious objection to abortion non-negotiable. Reuters newsagency. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pope-says-health-workers-conscien-tious-objection-abortion-non-negotiable-2021-10-14/
  3. Catholic News Agency. (Sep 15, 2021). Full text: Pope Francis’ in-flight press conference from Slovakia.