Florida’s Catholic bishops have rejected an attempt by state Attorney General James Uthmeier to pressure Catholic schools into granting religious exemptions from vaccination requirements. They said the state has no authority to interpret Catholic doctrine or condition school funding on accepting exemptions that church leaders believe lack a religious basis, highlighting a clash between Florida’s anti-vaccine policies and religious institutions’ autonomy.

Florida law requires schools to allow religious vaccine exemptions, but Catholic dioceses in the state accept only medically verified exemptions and support vaccination. Uthmeier, a Catholic, argued that schools should permit exemptions partly over vaccines developed using historic fetal cell lines and threatened scholarships and vouchers; the bishops replied that no new fetal cells or abortions are involved and that Catholic teaching permits vaccination.