Catholic leaders in US want Catholics to get Moderna or Pfizer vaccines due to moral implications Nola Catholics told to avoid J&J vaccine on religious grounds By Chris Luther | March 2, 2021 at 5:42 PM CST - Updated March 3 at 9:10 AM MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Health experts are reacting after the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans says they have received guidance from the Vatican that Catholics should avoid the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine due to the use of stem cells. In a statement released Friday, the Archdiocese of New Orleans says upon guidance from the Vatican, “the archdiocese must instruct Catholics that the latest vaccine from Janssen/Johnson & Johnson is morally compromised as it uses the abortion-derived cell line in the development and production of the vaccine as well as the testing.”