Pope Francis on COVID-19 vaccines: health care a 'moral obligation'

Pope Francis suggested Monday that getting vaccinated against the coronavirus was a 'moral obligation' and denounced how people had been swayed by 'baseless information' to refuse one of the most effective measures to save lives during the pandemic.

Francis used some of his strongest words yet calling for people to get vaccinated in a speech to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, an annual event in which he sets out the Vatican's foreign policy goals for the year.

Francis, 85, has generally shied away from speaking about vaccination as a "moral obligation," though his COVID-19 advisors have referred to it as a "moral responsibility." Rather, Francis has termed vaccination as "an act of love" and that refusing to get inoculated was "suicidal."

On Monday he went a step further, saying that individuals had a responsibility to care for themselves "and this translates into respect for the health of those around us. Health care is a moral obligation," he asserted.

He lamented that, increasingly, ideological divides were discouraging people from getting vaccinated.