SAINT CLOUD, Fla. – A Florida priest is accused of biting a woman and the interaction was caught on camera.
Saint Cloud police said the priest confessed to biting that woman, but his reasoning is very different from hers.
The Sunday service took a dramatic turn at Saint Thomas Aquinas church in Saint Cloud.
While parishioners were receiving communion an unidentified woman said when she tried to receive hers, she was bitten by the priest.
She identified him on police body camera footage as Father Fidel.
The woman told police the scuffle happened during her niece’s communion.
“He wouldn’t give me the cookie. I don’t know if it was the way I was dressed, or if it is what I like,” said the unidentified woman.
According to a police report, a witness told officers she was singled out because of her sexuality and attire.
“So, he tried to forcefully shove it in her mouth she backed up she said, ‘no don’t do that’ and she tried to get it and that is when he went crazy,” said the witness.
The confrontation was also captured from a feed the church streams online.
However, the priest told a different story.
He said he denied her the holy bread claiming she had not performed the necessary steps to receive it.
He said she tried again, but this time, things escalated when she tried to grab the bread out of his hand.
Father Fidel told police he was acting in self-defense and protecting the bread because it is 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 cannot give you communion. I bit her, I am not denying that. I am defending myself and the sacrament,” said Father Fidel.
He made it clear that was the only reason and told the officers he did not know her or what her sexual orientation is and does not care about that.
“I don’t judge nobody,” said Father Fidel.
Prosecutors are now reviewing the case to determine whether the priest will be charged with battery.