A Florida priest is accused of biting a woman during an argument at Sunday Mass and could be charged with assault.
The woman attended a 10 a.m. service at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in St. Cloud on Sunday and attempted to receive communion, the Diocese of Orlando said.
She had a brief discussion with the Rev. Fidel Rodriguez, who told her that she had not taken adequate steps to secure Communion and sent her away with a blessing, the diocese said in a statement.
The woman returned to a service two hours later and again attempted to take communion, and when Rodriguez asked her if she had fulfilled the prerequisite Confession required by the Catholic Church for receiving the Eucharist, she told him it was “none of his business,” according to the diocese.
Rodriguez, who had no information or details about the woman’s story, offered her Holy Communion, the church said.
“At that moment, the woman put her hand forcefully into the container and grabbed some sacred Communion hosts, crushing them,” the diocese said. Rodriguez, who only had one hand free, fought with the woman “as she refused to let go of her hosts.”
The church said the woman pushed Rodriguez, who “bit his hand to release the hosts he grabbed.”
She was immediately asked to leave.
Police investigated the incident at the church in St. Cloud, which is about 30 miles south of Orlando, and a charging statement accused Rodriguez of assault.
The woman told police that Rodriguez tried to “shove” the host in her mouth after becoming upset with her for not completing the necessary steps to receive Communion, according to a police report.
She accused him of grabbing and biting her arm as she tried to reach for a wafer he was holding, the report said.
Rodriguez told police that she attacked him first and that he was trying to protect the sanctity of Communion, according to the police report.
He told police that the woman pushed him and wouldn’t let go of the tray and that “the only way he could think of to get her out was to bite her arm,” the police report said.
Police said witnesses provided videos of the incident.
The Diocese of Orlando said Rodriguez responded in a way that was intended to “protect Holy Communion from this sacrilegious act.”
“While the Diocese of Orlando does not tolerate physical altercations like this, in good faith, Father Rodriguez was simply trying to avoid an act of desecration of Holy Communion,” he said.
The Eucharist, the Church said, “is considered ‘the source and summit’ of worship and faith.”
“It is not something a person can arbitrarily demand and it is certainly not a mere ‘biscuit,’ as the complainant called it,” the diocese said.
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