Archbishop Samuel Aquila, 71, was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Denver in 1976 and was named archbishop in 2012.

“Colorado itself is a very libertarian state,” he said in an interview. “Many of its people are socially liberal and have surrendered to secular humanism. The challenges for the Church in this culture are great.”

“Earlier this year, our state legislature passed the Reproductive Health Equity Act, one of the most progressive and liberal abortion laws in the country,” he added. “It stripped away the rights of the unborn child, which they refer to as the embryo or fetus, and made it legal to abort the child in the womb up to birth. When I was ordained in 1976, Colorado was a red state, where family values were strongly reinforced.”