Attorney General James Uthmeier is putting the Roman Catholic Church on notice – if they take taxpayer funded vouchers for their schools, they should accept vaccine exemptions for students, too.
In a letter sent Friday to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, Uthmeier, citing the Catholic Catechism, Pope Leo and scripture, argued Catholic doctrine does not allow its schools to reject vaccine exemptions for religious reasons.
“I therefore urge Catholic schools to comply with Florida law and grant religious exemptions to school vaccine policies. Failure to comply could jeopardize eligibility for state educational scholarship programs,” Uthmeier wrote in a letter addressed to FCCB executive director Michael Sheedy.
The letter comes 10 days before most school districts in the state open their doors for the 2026-2027 school year.
Many Catholic schools in Florida accept students who pay tuition with help from the state’s private school vouchers. Currently, more than 500,000 students across the state participate in the program. As of March 2026, about a quarter of the state’s education budget goes to voucher programs, up from 12 percent in 2021.
In response to Uthmeier’s letter, the conference issued a statement saying they are reviewing the letter and will respond to the attorney general.
“Be assured, Florida’s Catholic schools are operating in accord with the law and Church teaching,” wrote Michele Taylor, a spokesperson for the conference.
In his letter, Uthmeier did not single out one of the state’s seven dioceses, but did refer to the immunization policies of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
Uthmeier and several of Florida’s top Republican leaders and their staff are Catholics, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and incoming Education Commissioner Henry Mack.
DeSantis has pushed to repeal all vaccine mandates and expand the state’s vaccine exemption requirements. All legislative attempts have failed, including a bill earlier this year which would have created a new “conscience” category for parents to opt out of immunizations for their children and require health care workers to provide alternative vaccine schedules.
The conference has lobbied against these bills, urging lawmakers to keep vaccine requirements.
Citing church-affiliated statements, Uthmeier’s letter argues vaccines aren’t a “moral obligation,” and should not be compelled if they are derived from fetal tissue.
The Catholic Church is strongly against abortion, but its stance on vaccines derived from fetal tissue is more nuanced. The Vatican has said it is “morally acceptable” to use cell lines from aborted fetuses if there are no other alternatives available.
Under Florida law, the following vaccines are required for K-12 schools: Polio, measles (rubeola), rubella, pertussis (whooping cough), mumps, diphtheria and tetanus.
The rubella vaccine, a part of the MMR vaccine, was created using the cell lines of an aborted fetus but is permissible because there are no other alternatives to prevent the contagious and deadly disease.
In his letter, Uthmeier quotes a statement from the Vatican on the morality of using COVID-19 vaccines, which states “practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary.”
–Ana Goñi-Lessan, News Service of Florida
Laurel says
Mathematics:
🏛️💪+ 🙏 + $ = 🪠
PaulT says
That’s science, Laurel. Republican Politicians don’t do science because it offends the ignorant masses who vote for them.
marlee says
This is satirical comedy, right?
Deborah Coffey says
We wish. Uthmeier and DeSantis are going to have some dead kids on their hands. Then what?
Mike Cocchiola says
With contagious diseases spreading across America, I hope the Catholic Church responds forcefully to this very political imposition.
I hope Pope Leo comes to Floriduh and slaps Uthmeier around with pure logic and intelligence.
Deborah Coffey says
Me too, Mike.
T says
Remember people that tax funded vouchers are taking from poor schools to private rich schools and tax exempt
PaulT says
Did DeSantis deliberately choose anti-vaxxers for his cabinet, for his attorney general and surgeon general or is it simply the nature of the beast? Do all these quasi-religious right wing politicians share some kind of science denying, flat earther, genetic defect?
R.S. says
He’s a populist appealing to an incredibly ignorant electorate. And he’s probably still playing with plans for the presidency, and we know that requires egregious but boisterous ignorance. You’re perfectly on target, PaulT.
Joe D says
Not that I’m a supporter of public funds to ANY private school ( unless it’s based on low income families, from poorly scoring public schools). I’m also not appreciating the lack of public auditing or annual published student score testing, for all these funds leaving public schools. Or the lack of regulation in private schools that public schools have to follow (teacher certification, etc).
But NOW (despite the CLEAR SEPARATION of church and State rules), which the State of Florida has violated numerous times when it suited them…They are telling the Catholic School System that they can’t REQUIRE certain immunizations not required under the current proposed ROLL BACK of Florida State regulations.
There is no CHURCH approved restrictions on immunizations, unlike the AMISH and a few other Christian faiths (Jehovahs Witnesses, I THINK), where a RELIGIOUS exemption can be filed.
So now the State of Florida is going to take on the Catholic Church!! Get out your POCKETBOOKS Florida taxpayers! You can GUARANTEE a VERY expensive LAWSUIT if our DeSantis appointed Florida Attorney General, try’s to cut funding to Catholic Schools SOLELY BASED on the schools using BASICALLY ACCEPTED medical science that these regular immunizations SAVE LIVES, and refusing to drop the requirement.
If Florida wants to make this a NATIONAL TEST CASE…you can expect a long and EXPENSIVE legal battle…
But hey…it’s not the State of Florida’s money…it YOUR TAXPAYER MONEY, being WASTED yet again! What a JOKE!!