After U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise turnaround in favour of temporarily suspending patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines, Church leaders are redoubling their lobbying, hoping a World Trade Organization agreement will get vaccines into arms south of the equator.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis called for a global fight against the virus of "closed nationalism" and lack of concern for the poor by supporting "the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights" that prevent the widespread manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines.

The approval of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for use in Canada has heightened the discussion over whether Catholics should receive the vaccine, though Church teaching remains clear that it is “morally acceptable.”

VATICAN CITY -- As the Vatican health service continued vaccinating Vatican residents and employees against COVID-19, it also began offering the vaccine to homeless people who live in Vatican-owned shelters.

Pope Francis spoke for the common good on Christmas Day when he called for the world’s nations to ensure that those who are poor receive their fair share of the vaccine for the coronavirus.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican will begin offering COVID-19 vaccinations in mid-January, giving priority to its health care workers, security personnel, employees who deal with the public and older residents, employees and retirees.

EDMONTON -- When a vaccine is available to treat or prevent COVID-19, the bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories have given their blessing to Catholics to be inoculated.

VATICAN CITY - An eventual vaccine for COVID-19 would belong to the world and should not be hoarded greedily by countries hosting the lab or labs that develop it, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY -- The common good -- and not political or economic gain -- should be at the heart of the race to find a vaccine for COVID-19, Pope Francis said.

ROME -- More bishops are pleading with their governments to give priority to ethically developed coronavirus vaccines, but many also are telling Catholics that not getting vaccinated is a more serious moral problem than using the problematic vaccines.

VATICAN CITY -- Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera of Valencia made headlines when he described as a "work of the devil" attempts to find a COVID-19 vaccine using cell lines created from fetuses aborted voluntarily decades ago.

A coalition of Catholic bioethical groups is urging the Canadian government to invest in COVID-19 vaccine research that doesn’t use cells derived from electively aborted fetuses.

Medical experts worldwide are racing to create a COVID-19 vaccine. Of course, these efforts should be encouraged and well funded because normal life won’t return until an effective vaccine is developed and distributed around the world.

MANCHESTER, England -- A vaccine produced with the help of cells derived from aborted fetuses could present an ethical dilemma for Catholics and others opposed to abortion, said a senior researcher from a Catholic bioethics institute.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Measles, chicken pox and other diseases are making a comeback as more parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children out of the fear of side effects, especially with regard to the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine. Skeptics are concerned it leads to sickness autism or death.