By Stephen Sammut, PhD
Stephen Sammut, BPharm, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Dr. Sammut received a BPharm from Monash University in Victoria, Australia and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Malta. For more than 20 years Dr. Sammut has conducted varied research in animal models to investigate questions related to psychopathology, including depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, and drug abuse.
One thing can be stated for certain—the COVID-19 scar on humanity will be clearly visible for many years to come. If immediate steps are not taken to counter the narrative of misinformation as well as the measures taken to supposedly reduce the impact of COVID-19 and their consequences, we risk impacting humanity permanently—physiologically, immunologically, neurologically, psychologically, socially, educationally, economically, politically, and realistically in every aspect of humanity that one can imagine.
As if this were not enough, as if the various abuses (if not crimes) perpetrated against humanity under the guise of preventing the spread of COVID-19, and for the sake of the “common good,” were not enough, the vaccines and the necessity to be vaccinated appear to now be emerging as the next assault on humanity. As always, these are generally disguised under the excuse of caring for one’s neighbor. Yet, as some situations have started to clearly reflect, the events we see continuing to unfurl around us, in addition to what has already taken place, are nothing other than crimes against humanity as they involve “egregious violations of human dignity” perpetrated by a “state actor” (and executed by various levels of authority), and constitute “a systematic or widespread attack against a civilian population,” and cause “great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.”
In my previous article, I sought to challenge the idea that the COVID-19 restrictions served the “common good.” I addressed information pertaining to the virus (SARS-CoV-2) and the associated disease (COVID-19) from the perspective of the low infection mortality rate, the high recovery rates, the questionability of the PCR testing determining so much of what people can do or not, and the availability of various treatments that could easily be made available (but are not being used enough). I also provided comparisons to statistics pertaining to other diseases, and addressed various negative impacts resulting from the measures taken to supposedly slow the spread of the disease.
In this article, I raise one fundamental question, seeking to challenge the myopic focus on the morality of the vaccines and vaccinations, which are being imposed even in Catholic circles (one wonders how long it will be before others follow suit with the excuse of “serving the common good,” and before “strongly encouraged” becomes coercion): Is the response we see to COVID-19 really serving the “common good,” or is it a collaboration with evil?
When one sees sick leaves on a tree, knowing that the tree is rotten at the roots, one does not address/treat the leaves but rather the roots. However, this is not the logic of how we are addressing COVID-19 and the vaccines. It is rather disturbing to observe the Catholic hierarchy and intellectual community (academia in general, scientific or otherwise) focusing their “guidance”/directives on the vaccines and focusing solely on the morality of using a vaccine that is connected to cell lines derived from abortion.
This is similar to what has happened with regard to the approaches taken in relation to COVID-19. The focus there is “the virus” and how far it can travel, what masks it can pass through, how you can detect it, etc., while ignoring the bigger picture of the proportionally significantly higher negative impact of the measures taken (e.g., significant increases in mental health disorders, drug use, economic adversity, job loss, disruption of education, disruption of faith life—including ability to worship, disruption of human relationships including those most essential for the integrity of society—the family, etc.).
The directives pertaining to the vaccine, addressed in light of a supposed “grave pandemic,” in themselves show ignorance and to some extent an obstinacy (which seems to be the real pandemic, in both Catholic and secular circles) relative to the reality of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19—a reality that makes the necessity of a vaccine for this virus questionable at various levels. Additionally, others are arguing for the morality of being vaccinated. However, one common trait in both cases is the resounding and disturbing silence, cooperation with (despite the significant number of counterarguments—scientific or otherwise), and sheepish following of the irrational measures taken against COVID-19.
It appears that these entities (be they church leaders, academics, universities, etc.) are willing to ignore the potential immorality of those actions/measures, despite the significant harm they have contributed to society, physically (at all levels), psychologically, economically, socially, and spiritually, defending their actions at the same time, with the excuse of supposedly “serving the common good.” Additionally, these academics and church leaders appear to be ignoring the subsequent evils stemming from the use of the vaccine, including the vaccine passports that are already being utilized as a social credit platform equivalent to what is utilized in communist China (the developer of this concept).
In seeking to define morality and moral actions, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 1753 that, “A good intention (for example, that of helping one’s neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just. The end does not justify the means.” Additionally, paragraph 1756 states that “It is, therefore, an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context…One may not do evil so that good may result from it.” If one presumes that the “common good” is the “good intention” and COVID-19 is the “circumstance,” when one considers the evidence I have previously outlined (and more that exists) about the virus and COVID-19 and against the measures taken for COVID-19, one has to ask: Where are the bishops, theologians, philosophers, ethicists, scientists, and universities openly challenging and opposing the immorality of those same measures that:
- have been primarily driven by politics, lies, distortions of science, manipulation of data, private and financial interests, etc.?
- have impacted so many lives negatively in all of the ways mentioned above and previously?
As Thomas Merton states in his opening paragraph in Thoughts in Solitude, “There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with realities outside and above us.” Yet, clearly, we are witnessing a “disaster” unfold within society and the Church, with obvious additional consequences on the rest of society, specifically because of the disconnect that exists between:
- the present evidence—scientific, sociological, economic, and spiritual—and the fruits borne from the actions that have been taken thus far,
- the words of the Catechism addressing morality, and
- the words of Christ that “By their fruits, you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit…So by their fruits, you will know them” (Matthew 7:16-20).
Thus, I am urging and challenging Catholics to:
- gather their own evidence and to think for themselves,
- remove themselves from the hypnotizing focus on the morality of the vaccine as if it is an isolated entity and think of the very real and much bigger COVID-19 picture (measures taken, seriousness of the disease, availability of treatments, the vaccine, vaccine passports, deprivation of God-given freedoms, dismantling of society, etc.),
- incorporate into their conclusion not only the physiological and social realities that they are seeing at play in society, but to also understand the impact of all that is taking place on the spiritual life and the moral order, and
- finally, ask the question—Are the measures, those imposing them, and those supporting them, seeking to serve the common good or collaborating with evil?
We have been given an intellect for a reason. We must ensure we inform ourselves well, we must assess and analyze the evidence, and we must conclude and act. That is the normal scientific process; that is the spiritual process (to be aware; to understand; to take action), and that is also what it means to simply be the human being that God created each one of us to be.