"We mightn't like the way the child was conceived."
The newly-ordained Bishop of Ossory, Dr. Dermot Farrell, believes that an abortion following rape is "far worse than the rape itself".
His comments come after he distributed a letter around all 42 parishes in the Ossory diocese last weekend, in which the 63-year-old Westmeath bishop warned parishioners that once abortion is introduced, it would be difficult to restrict.
Speaking on Newstalk on Friday, Dr. Farrell explained his letter to Pat Kenny, saying: "What we're voting for on the 25th of May is to end the life of a child without restriction up to 12 weeks, and for unspecified health reasons then up to 24 weeks.
"And my fundamental argument is that the right to life is fundamental and that all other rights are based on that, no matter what other right we talk about. Whether it's the right to speech, the right to health, the right to housing, all of those rights are predicated on the basic right that we have a right to life.
"The result of abortion is always, for me, the death of a baby boy or a baby girl."
Going on to state that the Catholic Church does not disapprove of intervening in the case of ectopic pregnancies, because "it is not the intentional taking of the life of the unborn," Farrell added: "What the medical profession are doing there is they're intervening to save the life of the mother and as a consequence of that intervention, the child dies."
Addressing the matter of abortion in the cases of rape, the Bishop said: "Rape is a violent act and it's a violent crime against a woman. A terrible crime.
"And sometimes, what I understand from women who have been raped, is that the abortion that was followed sometimes after rape was far worse than the rape itself."
Subsequently, when challenged on abortion in the case of incest and the church's stance on consanguinity (blood relations), he told Kenny: "These are difficult cases, complex cases. We mightn't like the way the child was conceived."
"What you're trying to do is balance rights here, and the right to life of the child is paramount."
Farrell was appointed Bishop of Ossory by Pope Francis back in January and subsequently ordained in Kilkenny during March.
