Richmond, Va., Jul 3, 2008 / 01:01 am
The Diocese of Richmond has provided more information surrounding the January incident in which Commonwealth Catholic Charities of Richmond (CCR) staff and volunteers assisted a 16-year-old Guatemalan girl obtain an abortion.
Speaking to CNA, diocesan spokesman Stephen Neill said that Bishop Francis DiLorenzo, after learning late on January 17 of the abortion planned for the next day, specifically said “I forbid this to happen.”
“We want to be clear that the bishop was opposed to the abortion,” Neill told CNA, noting that Bishop DiLorenzo is himself a moral theologian.
The Guatemalan girl, who has another child, is a ward of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement and was in the foster care of CCR. CCR employees reportedly fit the girl for a contraceptive device two months before the abortion.