Priest slams SDLP and Sinn Fein from pulpit as he backs anti-abortion election candidate

Earlier this week, Fr Patrick McCafferty told his Corpus Christi congregation in Ballymurphy they should vote for the Aontú’s Gerard Herdman on May 5.

The parish priest said he had always voted SDLP but “not any more – never again, never”.

Fr McCafferty came to wider prominence in late 2015 when he supported the late Pastor James McConnell as a character witness during a high-profile prosecution.

At the time, Fr McCafferty said the Whitewell preacher should not have been taken to court over anti-Islam remarks he made during a service streamed online – branding the police and PPS actions a “waste of public resources”.

On Easter Monday he told his congregation: “I don’t like to talk about politics from the pulpit but I have a responsibility as a priest to ask the faithful to vote in accordance with what the church teaches and what our faith believes.

“The evil of abortion is irreconcilable with being a Catholic, and the evil of abortion is promoted by parties like Sinn Féin and the SDLP and the rest of them... the Alliance... and all that other crew.”

The priest singled out Green Party NI leader Clare Bailey for criticism – referring to her as “that woman” – over her private member’s bill that creates exclusion zones for pro-life protestors at abortion clinics, the Irish News reported.

Last month MLAs voted in support Ms Bailey’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill.

A spokesman for the Down and Connor diocese said Fr McCafferty had “communicated in a personal capacity” during the service, and added: “The Catholic Church has consistently taught that every human life is worthy of respect and care from the moment of conception to natural death.

“This inviolable human right to the protection of life and the equal dignity of every person is the concern of every person and the whole of society.

“The Catholic Church does not endorse any political party. The Church encourages every citizen to exercise their right to freely vote with an informed conscience.”