Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila led his annual Eucharistic procession around a Denver Planned Parenthood Saturday morning, continuing a decade-long tradition that remains his only documented public prayer vigil despite the church’s stated commitment to protecting all vulnerable life.
The October 25 procession drew fewer than 100 participants to the facility, which offers health services, including abortion care.
It marked at least the tenth year of the archbishop’s signature anti-abortion demonstration. Participants circled the building three times while praying the rosary before concluding with Mass at Our Lady of Fatima parish.
The event comes less than a year after Colorado voters enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution with Amendment 79, and as federal immigration enforcement intensifies across Colorado. The timing highlights a stark contrast in the archbishop’s public witness priorities.
This reporter attempted to ask archbishop Aquila why the church prioritizes public prayer at Planned Parenthood over other locations connected to church teachings on life and dignity, but was unable to reach him before the procession for questions.
The contrast in advocacy priorities becomes starker given the archbishop’s recent stance on immigration. In January, Aquila joined other Colorado bishops in signing a letter that stated “no country has the duty to receive so many immigrants that its social and economic life is jeopardized” and criticized what they called “open border” policies that previously “restricted Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ability to investigate, arrest, or deport spies, terrorists, and felons.”
The church’s allocation of liturgical leadership raises questions given its resources and broader ministries. In 2022, when Denver Mayor Michael Hancock asked archbishop Aquila about sheltering migrants at the then-vacant Little Sisters of the Poor Mullen Home facility, which could have housed 100 people, it highlighted available church properties. While the archdiocese has since partnered on initiatives to shelter migrant families through Catholic Charities, these efforts lack the archbishop’s visible presence that characterizes his abortion advocacy.
Saturday’s procession was promoted by Denver Catholic media as bringing Christ “to those places most in need of his light,” with organizers claiming the event would draw “hundreds of Catholics of all ages.” The church maintains this is “not a protest or a political rally” but rather an act of worship, though the messaging explicitly referenced Colorado’s recent expansion of abortion access through taxpayer funding.
Jennifer Torres, community engagement coordinator for Respect Life Denver, told attendees they were “united in our shared mission to be light in a darkened world.”
While the archdiocese operates Christ in the City for homeless ministry, supports immigrants through Catholic Charities partnerships, and the archbishop has spoken out on other political issues, the archbishop’s personal liturgical presence remains reserved for abortion protests. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless organizes an annual memorial vigil that draws broad community participation, but without the archbishop’s leadership.
This selective visibility is notable given that Catholic clergy in other cities have organized prayerful demonstrations near ICE facilities. In Denver, however, the archbishop’s public prayer leadership focuses singularly on abortion.
Respect Life Denver states its mission is championing “the sanctity of all human life” from “conception to natural death.” Yet how that translates into the archbishop’s public actions appears selective.
The Colorado Times Recorder didn’t get a response to its request for comment on this disparity in the archbishop’s liturgical witness.
Pope Leo XIV may replace Aquila, who’s considered an ultra-conservative archbishop, with a more socially liberal Catholic leader, say some church observers. Per church canon law, Aquila submitted his resignation this month on his 75th birthday.
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