A Florida priest is accused of biting a woman during a dispute during Sunday Mass and could face battery charges.
The woman attended a service at 10 a.m. Sunday at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in St. Cloud and attempted Communion, the Diocese of Orlando said.
She had a brief conversation with the Rev. Fidel Rodriguez, who told her she had not taken the proper steps to secure communion and dismissed her with a blessing, the diocese said in a statement.
The woman returned two hours later for a service and attempted Communion again, and when Rodriguez asked her if she had fulfilled the condition of confession required by the Catholic Church to receive the Eucharist, she told him “that was none of his business’. according to the diocese.
Rodriguez, who had no information or details about the woman’s background, offered her Holy Communion, the church said.
“At that point, the woman forcibly placed her hand inside the vessel and grabbed some Holy Communion hosts and crushed them,” the diocese said. Rodriguez, who had only one free hand, struggled with the woman “because she refused to let go of the hosts.”
The church said the woman then pushed Rodriguez, who “bit her hand so she would let go of the hosts she had grabbed.”
She was immediately asked to leave.
Police investigated the incident at the church in St. Cloud, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Orlando, and an affidavit accused Rodriguez of injuries.
According to a police report, the woman told police that Rodriguez tried to “smash” the wafer into her mouth after he became angry with her for not taking the necessary steps to receive communion.
She accused him of grabbing and biting her arm while she tried to grab 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 the 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 thought he could get her out was to bite her arm,” according to the police report.
Police said witnesses provided video footage of the incident.
The Diocese of Orlando said Rodriguez responded in a manner aimed at “protecting Holy Communion from this sacrilege.”
“While the Diocese of Orlando does not tolerate physical altercations such as this, Father Rodriguez, in good faith, simply sought to prevent an act of desecration of Holy Communion,” the diocese said.
The Eucharist, the church said, “is considered ‘the source and summit’ of worship and faith.”
“It is not something that anyone can arbitrarily demand and it is certainly not merely a ‘cookie’ as the complainant called it,” the diocese said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
