EASR 2021 Call for papers – Gender Law and Religion During the COVID-19 Health Crisis
Looking at Covid-19 infection from gendered lens, it deeply affected individuals who are in a vulnerable position, as women, giving rise to new concerns about gender equity and inclusion. This scenario is deeply exacerbated when gender interacts with other markers of identity such as religious affiliation. Such intersection gives rise to a double vulnerability, and the risk is enhanced of new form of female discrimination, violence, hate speech and harassment.
In different legal contexts, women have many roles and responsibilities, and the interaction between gender, law, religion and COVID-19 is likely to have an impact in terms of disempowerment in the processes of building a “female identity”. This occurs not only in western countries, where migrant women fight for a full integration, but also in their countries of origin, where they suffer the costs of models of normative pluralism and the inadequacy of state legal responses. In different environments, the pandemic has not only generated an unprecedented health crisis, has it also gave rise to other social and economic issues such as an increase in gender-based violence in family settings, and gender inequalities in the access to fundamental rights (healthcare, education, workplace, justice).
In this complex framework, religious leaders have to face new challenges and to give effective responses to their communities, as well as the female role in leadership can play a significant role during a pandemic, in order to urge the implementation of new paradigms, more responsive to new needs social/cultural/ legal change. All religious actors are called to guarantee not only guidance and support to the most vulnerable and marginalized members of their communities, but also to cooperate with governments to shape a better future where religious freedom, gender equality, gender justice and freedom from discrimination can develop.
The aim of panel is to investigate the impact of the pandemic on the status of women in faith communities, on the implementation of new balances between female religious/cultural claims and the compelling state interest to public welfare and on the development of new gendered intersectional perspectives aimed at implementing female full integration, equality and participation in civil society.
The panel is open to contributions from different disciplines in a comparative and/or single case perspective.
EASR Call for papers – Religious Minorities and Covid-19
Covid-19 affected particularly the collective dimension of freedom of religion and serves as an excuse for states to use rhetoric that scapegoats certain minorities, exacerbates tensions between religious groups and justifies further suppressions of already marginalized communities. For instance, religious groups deviating from mainstream Sunni Islam in certain countries in the MENA region are still denied any sort of formal (legal) recognition but are faced with discriminatory practices almost on a daily basis and are even blamed for spreading the virus. Also in the European context, where religion has been a central element for othering and discriminating minority communities for centuries, a rise of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic trends partially fueled by the pandemic, endanger not only Jewish or Muslim communities but society as a whole.
The pandemic thus sheds light on how the concept of minorities is framed in a certain socio-geographical context and how it relates to historical developments in a given region. Moreover, constantly changing power-relations in connection with a politicization of religion serve as a pretext for Covid-19-related policies to target religious minorities. Frictions and divisions within and between religious communities serve as an additional excuse for states to limit rights of minority communities, discriminating against, and ultimately persecuting, groups deviating from mainstream religion. Covid-19 highlights blind spots neglected by policy makers and legislators concerning the meaningful protection of rights of religious minority communities.
Therefore, this panel seeks to reflect on the impact of the pandemic on rights of religious minorities and aims to address rising discriminations and prejudices against religious groups as well as future scenarios for a comprehensive protection and promotion of religious minority communities.
The panel is open to contributions from different disciplines in a comparative and/or single case perspective.
Kumbh Mela 2021: Centre issues guidelines, makes THIS mandatory for devotees
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The Centre on Sunday (January 24) issued guidelines for the upcoming Kumbh Mela at Haridwar in Uttarakhand amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the SOPs, all devotees desirous of attending the mela must register with Uttarakhand government. The devotees also have to obtain a compulsory medical certificate from Community Health Centre or district hospital or medical college in their state.
The 2021 Kumbh fair will be a 48-day-long event and the Uttarakhand government will issue the notification for the same by February end.
The Maha Kumbh Mela began on January 14, 2021, and will end in April. Due to the pandemic, this year the Kumbh Mela will be held for 48 days in Haridwar instead of three-and-a-half months. The Maha Kumbh is celebrated in a cycle of 12 years at four river-bank pilgrimage sites. The fair will conclude on April 27.
The National Security Guard (NSG) commandos will also be deployed at the mela. Uttarakhand Police Commissioner Ashok Kumar said, “To take action against the anti-national elements, two NSG teams will be deployed during Kumbh Mela. The NSG teams will also train our Anti-Terrorist Squad.”
The central government has also acknowledged that since the Mahakumbh receives devotees from various states of the country as well as from abroad, it is necessary to take precaution. To be sure, the state government has asked the Centre for 20,000 additional vaccines. The state COVID-19 Control Room chief Dr Abhishek Tripathi divulged that the state government has sent a proposal for the same to the centre.
Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government on Friday authorised Garhwal Commissioner and the Kumbh Mela official to allocate works up to worth Rs 5 crore and Rs 2 crore respectively to speed up preparations for the Kumbh Mela. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Friday (January 22) evening, PTI quoted Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik as saying.
The cabinet also gave its nod to release Rs 3.79 crore for payment of scholarship dues to scheduled caste students of Class 9 and 10 of 2017-18 and 2018-19 sessions
Italian Episcopal Conference – The Sign of Peace is reintroduced into the Mass
Consiglio Permanente della CEI, 26 gennaio 2021
“Rito della pace nella Messa. La pandemia – ha ricordato il Consiglio Permanente – ha imposto alcune limitazioni alla prassi celebrativa al fine di assumere le misure precauzionali previste per il contenimento del contagio del virus. Non potendo prevedere i tempi necessari per una ripresa completa di tutti i gesti rituali, i Vescovi hanno deciso di ripristinare, a partire da Domenica 14 febbraio, un gesto con il quale ci si scambia il dono della pace, invocato da Dio durante la celebrazione eucaristica. Non apparendo opportuno nel contesto liturgico sostituire la stretta di mano o l’abbraccio con il toccarsi con i gomiti, in questo tempo può essere sufficiente e più significativo guardarsi negli occhi e augurarsi il dono della pace, accompagnandolo con un semplice inchino del capo. All’invito «Scambiatevi il dono della pace», volgere gli occhi per intercettare quelli del vicino e accennare un inchino, secondo i Vescovi, può esprimere in modo eloquente, sicuro e sensibile, la ricerca del volto dell’altro, per accogliere e scambiare il dono della pace, fondamento di ogni fraternità. Là dove necessario, si potrà ribadire che non è possibile darsi la mano e che il guardarsi e prendere “contatto visivo” con il proprio vicino, augurando: «La pace sia con te», può essere un modo sobrio ed efficace per recuperare un gesto rituale”.
NOTE ON ASH WEDNESDAY – Distribution of Ashes in Time of Pandemic
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Prot. N. 17/21
NOTE ON ASH WEDNESDAY – Distribution of Ashes in Time of Pandemic
The Priest says the prayer for blessing the ashes. He sprinkles the ashes with holy water, without saying anything. Then he addresses all those present and only once says the formula as it appears in the Roman Missal, applying it to all in general: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel”, or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. The Priest then cleanses his hands, puts on a face mask and distributes the ashes to those who come to him or, if appropriate, he goes to those who are standing in their places. The Priest takes the ashes and sprinkles them on the head of each one without saying anything.
Fromthe Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 12 January 2021.
Robert Card. Sarah – Prefect
Arthur Roche, Archbishop – Secretary
UAE Fatwa Council: Covid vaccine use allowed according to Islamic laws
ABU DHABI, 22nd December, 2020 (WAM) — The UAE Fatwa Council, under the chairmanship of Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, has issued a ‘fatwa’ (Islamic ruling) allowing the coronavirus vaccines to be used in compliance with Islamic Sharia’s objectives on the protection of the human body and other relevant Islamic rulings.
This comes in response to growing concerns among Muslims over the halal status of the COVID vaccines and following a request for an advisory opinion addressed by the Minister of Religious Affairs of Malaysia, to the UAE Fatwa Council on the same subject.
“Coronavirus vaccination is classified under preventive medicines for individuals, as recommended by the Islamic faith, particularly in times of pandemic diseases when the healthy happen to be prone to infections due to the high risk of contracting the disease, therefore posing risk to the entire society,” the Council explained.
The Fatwa Council added that even though the vaccine in question contains non-halal ingredients banned by Islam, it’s permissible to use it in implementation of the Islamic rule that permits the use of such products in case there are no alternatives.
The council cited the highly contagious nature of the disease as a justification to use the vaccines owning to the dire consequences the pandemic has inflicted in terms of fatal physical and material damage.
The council added that concerned medical authorities and other competent expertise are the ones authorised to assess the side effects of the vaccine, calling upon all to cooperate with their respective governments to ensure the success of vaccination campaigns and respect for the preventive and precautionary measures taken in this regard.WAM/Hatem Mohamed/Hazem Hussein
UAE Fatwa Council: Covid vaccine use allowed according to Islamic laws
The Council urges everyone to cooperate with governments to ensure the success of vaccination campaigns.
“Coronavirus vaccination is classified under preventive medicines for individuals, as recommended by the Islamic faith, particularly in times of pandemic diseases when the healthy happen to be prone to infections due to the high risk of contracting the disease, therefore posing risk to the entire society,” the Council explained.
The Fatwa Council added that even though the vaccine in question contains non-halal ingredients banned by Islam, it’s permissible to use it in implementation of the Islamic rule that permits the use of such products in case there are no alternatives.
The council cited the highly contagious nature of the disease as a justification to use the vaccines owning to the dire consequences the pandemic has inflicted in terms of fatal physical and material damage.
The council added that concerned medical authorities and other competent experts are authorised to assess the side effects of the vaccine, calling upon all to cooperate with their respective governments to ensure the success of vaccination campaigns and respect for the preventive and precautionary measures taken in this regard.
Comunicazione circa il Decreto Legge del 18 dicembre 2020. Una precisazione della Conferenza Episcopale Italiana dopo il decreto legge
Il Decreto-Legge n. 172, contenente ulteriori disposizioni urgenti per fronteggiare i rischi sanitari connessi alla diffusione del virus COVID-19, introduce – come ormai noto – alcune limitazioni agli spostamenti durante il periodo natalizio, dal 24 dicembre 2020 al 6 gennaio 2021. Nei giorni 24, 25, 26, 27, 31 dicembre 2020 e 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 gennaio 2021 si applicano le misure previste per le cosiddette “zone rosse”, elencate all’art. 3 del DPCM dello scorso 3 dicembre. Nei giorni 28, 29, 30 dicembre 2020 e il 4 gennaio 2021 si applicano, invece, le misure previste per le cosiddette “zone arancioni”, elencate all’art. 2 del DPCM dello scorso 3 dicembre.
Nella situazione disegnata dal Decreto-Legge non ci sono cambiamenti circa la visita ai luoghi di culto e le celebrazioni: entrambe sono sempre permesse, in condizioni di sicurezza e nella piena osservanza delle norme.
La Segreteria Generale della CEI ricorda quanto indicato dal Consiglio Episcopale Permanente nel comunicato finale della sessione straordinaria del 1° dicembre: “Sarà cura dei Vescovi suggerire ai parroci di ‘orientare’ i fedeli a una presenza ben distribuita, ricordando la ricchezza della liturgia per il Natale che offre diverse possibilità: Messa vespertina nella vigilia, nella notte, dell’aurora e del giorno. Per la Messa nella notte sarà necessario prevedere l’inizio e la durata della celebrazione in un orario compatibile con il cosiddetto ‘coprifuoco’”, cioè entro le 22.
Durante i giorni di “zona rossa” si consiglia ai fedeli di avere con sé un modello di autodichiarazione per velocizzare le eventuali operazioni di controllo. La Circolare del Ministero dell’Interno del 7 novembre 2020 ha precisato che i luoghi di culto dove ci si può recare per una visita o per la partecipazione a una celebrazione “dovranno ragionevolmente essere individuati fra quelli più vicini”.
Durante i giorni di “zona arancione” i fedeli potranno raggiungere liberamente qualsiasi luogo sacro sito nel Comune di residenza, domicilio o abitazione. Se esso ha una popolazione non superiore a 5.000 abitanti è possibile recarsi in chiese situate in altri Comuni che non siano capoluoghi di provincia e distanti non oltre i 30 km.
I Vescovi esortano, soprattutto in queste giornate, a non dimenticare e ad accompagnare tutte le persone, che comunicano le loro fatiche, le loro speranze, chiedendo preghiere e aiuti materiali e spirituali. “Nel silenzio delle tante ferite che incidono profondamente sul corpo, nell’anima e nello spirito, sappiamo per fede che sta per fare capolino la voce dell’angelo, che porterà la notizia attesa da sempre: ‘Vi annuncio una grande gioia: oggi è nato per voi un Salvatore, che è Cristo Signore’”.
Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines
The question of the use of vaccines, in general, is often at the center of controversy in the forum of public opinion. In recent months, this Congregation has received several requests for guidance regarding the use of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, which, in the course of research and production, employed cell lines drawn from tissue obtained from two abortions that occurred in the last century. At the same time, diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements in the mass media by bishops, Catholic associations, and experts have raised questions about the morality of the use of these vaccines.
There is already an important pronouncement of the Pontifical Academy for Life on this issue, entitled “Moral reflections on vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human fetuses” (5 June 2005). Further, this Congregation expressed itself on the matter with the Instruction Dignitas Personae (September 8, 2008, cf. nn. 34 and 35). In 2017, the Pontifical Academy for Life returned to the topic with a Note. These documents already offer some general directive criteria.
Since the first vaccines against Covid-19 are already available for distribution and administration in various countries, this Congregation desires to offer some indications for clarification of this matter. We do not intend to judge the safety and efficacy of these vaccines, although ethically relevant and necessary, as this evaluation is the responsibility of biomedical researchers and drug agencies. Here, our objective is only to consider the moral aspects of the use of the vaccines against Covid-19 that have been developed from cell lines derived from tissues obtained from two fetuses that were not spontaneously aborted.
1. As the Instruction Dignitas Personae states, in cases where cells from aborted fetuses are employed to create cell lines for use in scientific research, “there exist differing degrees of responsibility”[1] of cooperation in evil. For example,“in organizations where cell lines of illicit origin are being utilized, the responsibility of those who make the decision to use them is not the same as that of those who have no voice in such a decision”.[2]
2. In this sense, when ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines are not available (e.g. in countries where vaccines without ethical problems are not made available to physicians and patients, or where their distribution is more difficult due to special storage and transport conditions, or when various types of vaccines are distributed in the same country but health authorities do not allow citizens to choose the vaccine with which to be inoculated) it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.
3. The fundamental reason for considering the use of these vaccines morally licit is that the kind of cooperation in evil (passive material cooperation) in the procured abortion from which these cell lines originate is, on the part of those making use of the resulting vaccines, remote. The moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation is not obligatory if there is a grave danger, such as the otherwise uncontainable spread of a serious pathological agent[3]–in this case, the pandemic spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. It must therefore be considered that, in such a case, all vaccinations recognized as clinically safe and effective can be used in good conscience with the certain knowledge that the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells used in production of the vaccines derive. It should be emphasized, however, that the morally licit use of these types of vaccines, in the particular conditions that make it so, does not in itself constitute a legitimation, even indirect, of the practice of abortion, and necessarily assumes the opposition to this practice by those who make use of these vaccines.
4. In fact, the licit use of such vaccines does not and should not in any way imply that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines proceeding from aborted fetuses.[4] Both pharmaceutical companies and governmental health agencies are therefore encouraged to produce, approve, distribute and offer ethically acceptable vaccines that do not create problems of conscience for either health care providers or the people to be vaccinated.
5. At the same time, practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary. In any case, from the ethical point of view, the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one’s own health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good. In the absence of other means to stop or even prevent the epidemic, the common good may recommend vaccination, especially to protect the weakest and most exposed. Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent. In particular, they must avoid any risk to the health of those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons, and who are the most vulnerable.
6. Finally, there is also a moral imperative for the pharmaceutical industry, governments and international organizations to ensure that vaccines, which are effective and safe from a medical point of view, as well as ethically acceptable, are also accessible to the poorest countries in a manner that is not costly for them. The lack of access to vaccines, otherwise, would become another sign of discrimination and injustice that condemns poor countries to continue living in health, economic and social poverty.[5]
The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on 17 December 2020, examined the present Note and ordered its publication.
Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on 21 December 2020, Liturgical Memorial of Saint Peter Canisius.
Luis F. Card. Ladaria, S.I. – Prefect
+ S.E. Mons. Giacomo Morandi – Titular Archbishop of Cerveteri, Secretary
[1] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Dignitas Personae (8th December 2008), n. 35; AAS (100), 884.
[3] Cfr. Pontifical Academy for Life, “Moral reflections on vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human foetuses”, 5th June 2005.
[4] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruct. Dignitas Personae, n. 35: “When the illicit action is endorsed by the laws which regulate healthcare and scientific research, it is necessary to distance oneself from the evil aspects of that system in order not to give the impression of a certain toleration or tacit acceptance of actions which are gravely unjust. Any appearance of acceptance would in fact contribute to the growing indifference to, if not the approval of, such actions in certain medical and political circles”.
[5] Cfr. Francis, Address to the members of the “Banco Farmaceutico” foundation, 19 September 2020.