Pope Francis wants you to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
"Getting the vaccine," the Pontiff says, "is an act of love."
Francis and six Catholic cardinals and archbishops made a public service announcement released Wednesday in which they urged people to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
"Thanks to God's grace and the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19," the Pope said in the video, seated at a desk in the Vatican and wearing a white cassock and skull cap.
"Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable," he said. "I pray to God that each of us can make his or her own small gesture of love."
Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI were both first vaccinated against COVID-19 on Jan. 14.
The three-minute PSA also features Archbishop José Horacio Gómez Velasco of Los Angeles, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City, Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras, Cardinal Cláudio Hummes of Brazil, Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez of El Salvador and Archbishop Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte of Peru.
"The terrible coronavirus epidemic has caused illness, death and suffering across the entire world," Valesco said.
"May God grant us the grace to face it with the strength of faith, ensuring that vaccines are available for all so we can all get immunized," he said.
The Vatican has been clear that COVID-19 vaccines are a moral good and acceptable for Catholics to take.
A December statement from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the overarching moral mandate is to be vaccinated or do the utmost possible to avoid passing along the virus.
That includes vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which some Catholics have expressed concern over because a cell line from aborted fetal tissue was used in its development and production, though not in the manufacturing process.
When "ethically irreproachable" COVID-19 vaccines are not available, "it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process," the statement said.
The public service announcement was made by the Ad Council in cooperation with the Vatican's Dicastery for Inegral Human Development.
The video is delivered in English, Spanish and Portuguese to reach communities worldwide.
