Catholic U.S. troops should be allowed to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine based solely on conscientious objection and regardless of whether abortion-related tissue was used in its creation or testing, the archbishop for the military declared in a new statement supporting service members who are seeking religious exemptions.

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“No one should be forced to receive a COVID-19 vaccine if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience,” said Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy P. Broglio, in a statement…

Broglio previously has supported President Joe Biden’s mandatory vaccination order for U.S. troops, citing…guidance that permits Catholics to receive…vaccines derived from fetal tissue, when no other…option is available….[S]ome troops have questioned if the church’s permission to get vaccinated outweighed their own conscious objections to it.

“It does not,” Broglio wrote…

Broglio’s Tuesday letter appears to formalize that exemption…[Explaining] how the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines that were tested using an “abortion-derived cell line”  are still not considered sinful…because it is “remote material cooperation with evil.”…

While the Pope has  deemed COVID-19 vaccines to be not sinful, Broglio emphasized…If the vaccine violates the sanctity of an individual’s conscience, they should not be forced to receive the vaccine. This deviates from previous statements from the archdiocese, when Broglio encouraged troops to receive whatever vaccine became available.

“In the case of vaccines to protect against the Coronavirus pandemic, the highest doctrinal authority of the Church, speaking on behalf of the Bishop of Rome, has made its clear position on the vaccines available,” said Broglio in March…

Two months later, the archdiocese has amended its message.

“The denial of religious accommodations, or punitive or adverse personnel actions taken against those who raise earnest, conscience-based objections, would be contrary to federal law and morally reprehensible,” said Broglio, in his letter…

Those who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine must “continue to act in charity for their neighbors and the common good” by wearing masks, social distancing, and testing routinely, Broglio’s letter closes. And once a treatment becomes available that is “not derived from, or tested with abortion-derived cell lines,” he said, troops should remain open to receiving it.