The Catholic bishops of Florida are in a battle with the state’s government over an issue of religious freedom. The state government is for it— for religious freedom, that is— the bishops are against it.

The government says that schools do not qualify for state funding unless they allow exemptions for families who, for moral reasons, object to vaccine requirements. The Catholic schools are holding firm for the vaccine requirements, rejecting pleas for religious exemptions.

The bishops lean heavily on the Vatican’s pronouncement that Catholics can, in conscience, accept morally-tainted vaccines IF there is no viable alternative and IF the risks involving in not taking the vaccine are grave. In any case, however, the Vatican says that taking a vaccine “is not, as a rule, a moral obligation.” The bishops, in defense of the schools’ blanket requirement, ignore everything after that first “if.”

The bishops have decided that the public-health benefits of a vaccine requirements outweigh the moral hazards. So apparently they’re setting themselves up as public-health experts, and leaving questions about religious freedom to the government. Do you notice something wrong with this picture?