(CNN) – A Catholic priest in Rhode Island last week condemned lawmakers who supported the state abortion law and said they should be denied communion.
Now he suggests that abortion is more heinous than pedophilia.
In an interview with WJAR, an affiliate of CNN, the Rev. Richard Bucci of the Church of the Sacred Heart, said that while the abuse is “something horrible”, the comparison between child abuse and abortion is unfair because he believes that more children have been aborted than they have been abused
“We are not talking about any other moral problem, where some can make a comparison between child abuse and abortion,” the West Warwick priest said in the interview, published Sunday. “Pederasty does not kill anyone and this does.”
Bucci told WJAR that no one should be surprised by his position: the catechism of the Roman Catholic Church maintains that from the moment of conception, unborn children have the rights of a person.
His comments come after he published a church bulletin in January that listed Rhode Island lawmakers by name who had supported the state abortion law. The law, passed in June, codified abortion protections.
In the newsletter, Bucci said that the more than 40 legislators he appointed should not receive communion, serve as sponsors or read at Mass, among other restrictions.
LOOK: Joaquín Aguilar, victim of child abuse, on Church announcement: We want to see more actions
Direct abortion, according to the Catholic Church, is “seriously contrary to moral law.” In 2016, Pope Francis extended the power of Catholic priests to forgive abortions indefinitely, although he said it was still a “serious sin.”
CNN has contacted the Church of the Sacred Heart for comments. The church referred Bucci, who was not available to comment.
Rhode Island lawmakers criticize his letter
State representative Carol Hagan McEntee told CNN that she received one of Bucci’s letters. He has publicly opposed the church: in 2019, he introduced a bill that extended the state’s statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse after his sister, Anne Hagan Webb, said he had been abused by a priest of the Sacred Heart as a child.
“It’s absurd to think that this doesn’t kill anyone,” he said. “He steals his childhood and steals their soul.”
McEntee, who supported abortion legislation, no longer attends church. She said she believes that the Catholic Church has not been held responsible for allegations of abuse against children.
READ: The map of allegations of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church in the world (2019)
“[Bucci] I should come to the state capitol and listen to the testimony of the victims, ”he said. “I would have a completely different vision.”
State Senator Adam Satchell, who also supported abortion legislation, described Bucci’s letter as disappointing.
“I was recently asked to be my niece’s godfather, and I happily accepted,” he told WJAR. “My wife was excited. It would be his first godson, and now we can’t. ”
A week before Bucci made his comments on pedophilia, Carolyn Cronin, spokesman for the Diocese of Providence, said that while the Catholic Church provides “detailed rules for the preparation and reception” of sacraments such as communion, it is the duty of the pastor apply them Therefore, any change in who can receive the sacrament depends on individual parishes.
CNN contacted Cronin to get an updated comment on Bucci’s pedophilia comments and is waiting to receive a response.
– .
