The woman attended the first mass at 10 a.m., and when she went up to take communion, the priest refused to give it to her. The woman returned to the church for a later service that same day and went up for communion again, and that is when the altercation took place. Image via screen capture.
The priest told police that he acted in self defense. He said the woman pushed him and tried to grab the communion tray out of his hand.
A priest bit a woman who tried to grab the communion wafer at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in St. Cloud, on May 19.
Father Fidel Rodriguez was arrested after an altercation with an unidentified woman, and officers from the St. Cloud Police Department have recommended that he be charged with battery, according to WFTV.
The woman attended the first mass at 10 a.m., and when she went up to take communion, the priest refused to give it to her. Rodriguez told police that the woman didn’t understand the process of communion so he told her what steps she needed to take before she could take communion.
The woman returned to the church for a later service that same day and went up for communion again, and that is when the altercation took place.
“He tried to forcefully shove it in her mouth. She backed up and said, ‘No, don’t do that.’ She tried to get it, and that’s when he went crazy,” a witness said to police.
The witness alleges that the priest denied her communion because of her sexual orientation and the way she was dressed.
“He wouldn’t give me the cookie. I don’t know if it was the way I was dressed or what it is that I like,” the woman can be heard saying in the bodycam video.
According to the woman she told the priest that she had completed the necessary steps to receive communion and was “now accepted by God.”
Rodriguez told police that he acted in self defense. He said the woman pushed him and tried to grab the communion tray out of his hand, and that he was protecting the wafer because it’s considered the body of Christ.
“I am not judging you. I am asking you, ‘Did you confess after Mass?’ If you did not confess, I can’t give you communion. I bit her. I am not denying that. I was defending myself and the sacrament,” he told police.
Rodriguez told officers he didn’t know the woman or what her sexual orientation is and doesn’t care about that.
“I don’t judge nobody,” he told police.
READ MORE: Skunk Ape, Mahamba and 3 other legendary creatures of Florida
Author
Support Our Cause
Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Floridians and our future.
Since day one, our goal here at Floricua has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Florida families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.
Oppose ICE? Here’s how you can take action
The moment we’re in The US Senate is currently deciding whether to approve new funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including...
Florida’s wildfire season: What you need to know
Discover Florida's year-round wildfire risks, contributing factors, and prevention strategies, plus key historical events and community awareness....
Florida’s wildfire season: What you need to know
Discover Florida's year-round wildfire risks, contributing factors, and prevention strategies, plus key historical events and community awareness....
Decline of Florida’s citrus industry hastened by Trump’s tariff tiff
Hurricanes and disease have already taken a tremendous toll on those fragrant trees, not to mention development demand for the land. This weekend I...
