A Catholic priest used an aborted baby over the weekend in a Facebook broadcast to convince parishioners to reject Hillary Clinton on Election Day.
Father Frank Pavone of New York-based Priests for Life and the Diocese of Amarillo in Texas says on his Facebook page that “America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion.”
His pitch to voters, which has been seen by over 375,000 people, ended any doubt as to the seriousness of his words.
“Today I am showing you a child who was killed by abortion and entrusted to us by a pathologist for burial,” the priest said Nov. 7. “We have had a funeral for this baby (see some of the funerals and burials here), who rests in a Memorial Chapel, but today 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.”
Websites like Gizmodo expressed outrage at the video, which prompted a quick response from the social media giant.
“Facebook is an open platform for any and all candidates, groups, organizations, and voters to engage on the elections and in the public policy debate,” a spokesperson told the website on Monday.
SEE ALSO: Hillary Clinton ripped as ‘scheming, robotic liar’ by Catholic bishop after WikiLeaks dump
Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s office told The Washington Post on Monday that it does not have a relationship with Father Pavone and would not comment on the video.
Charles Camosy, a bioethics professor at Fordham University and a board member of Democrats for Life of America, told the newspaper that friends across the political spectrum said Father Pavone had gone too far.
“This plays into the narrative so many people have of us, that this is a bunch of wild extremists who will put an aborted fetus on Facebook Live,” Mr. Camosy said. “Come on! This is the death rattle for the culture-war-focused pro-life movement.”
A spokesman for the Diocese of Amarillo in Texas did not return the newspaper’s request for comment, although a receptionist said her phone was ringing non-stop.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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