Texas Priest Uses Aborted Fetus As Prop To Appeal For Trump Votes
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AMARILLO (CBSDFW.COM/AP) –A Roman Catholic priest placed an aborted fetus on his altar and posted a video of it on two social media sites.
Father Frank Pavone said in the video, "I am showing him to you because in this election we have to decide if we will allow this child killing to continue in America or not. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic platform says yes, let the child killing continue (and you pay for it); Donald Trump and the Republican platform says no, the child should be protected."
Pavone is a priest in the Amarillo, Texas, Archdiocese, and is a well-known and long-time vocal opponent of abortion. His aggressive work on the topic has gotten him in trouble with the diocese previously.
In 2014, Cardinal Timothy Dolan cut ties with the Pavone, despite Dolan's own outspoken advocacy against abortion, reports the Washington Post.
In a blog post on the New York Archdiocese website, Ed Mechmann said Pavone was just exploiting the body of the dead baby to further his own ends, and not worshiping or loving it as a good Catholic should. He expressed special horror for placing the baby's body "on an altar, which has been sanctified for the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."
In response to the outrage online against the video, Pavone has replied to several angry Facebook users who saw his post.
In defense against claims he was exploiting a dead baby, Pavone said, "The exploitation was the violent killing of the child, and deprivation, by the government, of the protection of that child's life. THAT's the exploitation. This body would have been in the garbage had we not given this child a funeral and a cemetery crypt. Wake up."
The Washington Post reports that a recent poll show Catholics divided in this election, with 48 percent of Catholics going for Hillary Clinton while 44 percent favored Trump.
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