The Reverend Richard Bucci of Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, Rhode Island, has been forced to backtrack after claiming abortion was worse than pedophilia, because the latter doesn’t kill anyone (Pictures: WJAR/Google Maps)

A Catholic priest was forced to backtrack after declaring that women who have abortions are worse than pedophiles.

The Reverend Richard Bucci, of Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, Rhode Island, made the controversial comments while defending his decision to ban pro-choice politicians from receiving communion.

Bucci told WJAR: ‘We are not talking about any other moral issue, where some may make it a comparison between pedophilia and abortion.

‘Pedophilia doesn’t kill anyone, and this does.’


The priest also went on to speculate that more children had been killed by abortion than had been sexually abused, adding: ‘Which is not to say that abuse is not a horrible thing.’

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Pro-life protesters attend the 2020 March for Life rally in Washington DC. Bucci banned politicians who voted to save a Rhode Island law that enshrines a woman’s right to an abortion (Picture: AP)

Bucci backtracked on his comments on Tuesday, saying: ‘I should have made it clearer that I wasn’t saying there was no suffering to the person who is abused physically.



‘Especially a child who puts their trust in faith, whether it be a priest, a rabbi, an uncle, a parent. That’s absolute.’

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Bucci published a list late last month aimed at state lawmakers who unsuccessfully voted to enshrine the right to an abortion in 2019.

He said any of those officials would also be prohibited from acting as godparents at baptisms or lectors at weddings.

Explaining that decision to The Providence Journal, Bucci said: ‘If they are proud of what they have done, why do they want to keep it a secret?

‘We all hear about responsibility. Let them take responsibility.

‘If they think this is a good and wholesome and holy thing…they should be proud of it, and why should I hide that from my parishioners?’