Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski Accuses AG James Uthmeier of 'Classic Bullying' Over Catholic School Vaccine Rules

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski is accusing Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier of "classic bullying" for warning that Catholic schools could lose state voucher funding if they keep refusing religious exemptions to their vaccine requirements, escalating a months-long clash between the state's top lawyer and the Catholic bishops who run one of Florida's largest private school systems.

Wenski made the remarks on Monday's episode of State Affairs' "Between the Lines with Dara Kam" podcast, according to reporting by State Affairs published by WLRN and WUSF on Oct. 19. He called the funding threat "an idle threat," but said it was still an example of bullying, and said Uthmeier never contacted the bishops before making his letter public.

What Uthmeier demanded

The dispute began with a July 31 letter from Uthmeier to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent roughly 10 days before the 2026-27 school year began. Florida requires schoolchildren to be vaccinated against diseases such as measles but has long allowed parents to opt out on religious grounds. Uthmeier argued that state law requires public and private schools alike to honor those religious objections.

"I therefore urge Catholic schools to comply with Florida law and grant religious exemptions to school vaccine policies," Uthmeier wrote, according to WPTV. He warned that refusing to do so could jeopardize the schools' eligibility for the state's education scholarship programs, the voucher system that pays private school tuition for hundreds of thousands of Florida students.

The letter focused on some parents' objections to vaccines developed using fetal cell lines, and Uthmeier, a self-described practicing Catholic and father of three young children, cited Vatican teaching on individual conscience to argue that Catholic doctrine does not require schools to refuse those exemptions.

The stakes for the schools are large. Conference data cited in news coverage show that about 88% of the more than 94,000 students in Florida's Catholic schools received state-funded scholarships last school year; WPTV, citing Step Up For Students data, put the share at about 92% for 2025-26.

The bishops' reply

The bishops answered in an Aug. 7 letter from Michael Sheedy, executive director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. Sheedy wrote that the bishops "do not have to justify" their position on Catholic teaching to the attorney general's office, citing religious liberty, and argued that the state could not disqualify Catholic schools from scholarship funding over the disagreement. Reports at the time said the conference also offered to meet with Uthmeier's staff, and it published the reply on Aug. 17.

The exchange drew critical legal commentary. Notre Dame law professor Rick Garnett called the attorney general's letter a serious government overreach that misreads religious freedom rights, according to Catholic press coverage of the dispute.

Wenski's argument

Wenski said Catholic schools do not offer religious exemptions for the vaccines in question because the Church does not consider those vaccines morally objectionable. The schools do grant medical exemptions, such as for students with allergies.

The archbishop said the bishops viewed Uthmeier's letter as an improper attempt by a state official to influence Church teaching, and that the stronger argument in the dispute is religious freedom itself. He said the attorney general, as a lawyer and a Catholic, should know the constitutional protections for religious liberty.

Wenski framed vaccination as consistent with both Florida law and Catholic social teaching on the common good. He pointed to the decline in child mortality since vaccines were introduced and to the recent resurgence of measles in Florida and across the country. Parents who choose a Catholic school should expect it to follow Catholic teaching, he said, and families who oppose vaccination have other options, including homeschooling.

He also noted that the criticism this time comes from the right, unlike much of the pressure the Church typically faces from the left, and said the attorney general's motives were unclear.

A wider fight over vaccines and the Church

The confrontation sits at the intersection of two larger debates. Within the Catholic Church, it reflects a rift between some socially conservative members and the more inclusive approach to ministry taken by recent popes. Nationally, it plays out against a broader argument over vaccine mandates, fueled in part by the vaccine skepticism of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In Tallahassee, state leaders have sided with expanded parental choice on vaccines. When Uthmeier's letter surfaced in August, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, according to WPTV, that "we ought to be empowering parents rather than trying to take away the rights of parents." State Rep. Daryl Campbell, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, countered that the attorney general seemed torn between his elected office and wanting "to be a pope," and said affordability was the more pressing issue for Floridians.

Lawmakers this year rejected proposals to end Florida's remaining school vaccine requirements or to create a broader conscience exemption, leaving medical and religious opt-outs as the only legal routes around the mandates.

The state's own vaccine rule change

The Catholic school fight is unfolding as the Florida Department of Health moves to shrink the list of shots required for school and child care entry. Under a proposed rule approved by Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on Aug. 20, hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines would no longer be required. Those four requirements exist only in agency rule, so the department can repeal them without legislative action.

Requirements for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus are written into state law and would remain in place. The department held a public hearing on the proposal in Lake Mary on Oct. 8, where parents' rights advocates praised it and pediatricians, family physicians and other health care professionals strongly opposed it. Shortly before that hearing, the department dropped a separate plan to broaden exemptions to include a "sincerely held moral or ethical belief," so exemptions still must rest on religious tenets and practices.

Written comments on the rule were accepted until 5 p.m. on Oct. 19, according to WLRN. The rule is not final. In a social media post last Friday, the department said the proposal "does not ban or prohibit these vaccines" and described it as a way to strengthen parental rights.

What it means for Catholic school families

For now, nothing has changed for families in Catholic classrooms. Uthmeier's warning has not been followed by any reported move to cut off scholarship money, and Wenski's view is that it will not be. Catholic schools continue to require the vaccines the state requires and to accept medical exemptions, while declining religious ones.

If the Department of Health finalizes its rule, the state would no longer require the four targeted vaccines for any school. Private schools, including Catholic schools, would then face a separate question of whether to keep those shots on their own admission lists, a policy choice the bishops have said is theirs to make.

What's next

The Department of Health must review public comments before deciding whether to adopt the rule, which takes effect only after it is filed with the Department of State. The attorney general's office has not announced any enforcement action against Catholic schools. Any attempt to strip voucher eligibility from schools over their vaccine policies would likely draw a legal challenge on religious liberty grounds, a fight the bishops have signaled they are prepared to wage.