Dear Editor:  I want to comment on Father Ed Mason’s article (Feb. 7) in the “Up Front and Personal” column. I consider Father Mason to be a good man who I really personally admire.

However, when it comes to the late Governor Mario Cuomo, we differ greatly. Like Mario Cuomo and Father Mason, I am against capital punishment. However, even the relatively few criminals killed in capital punishment are treated with greater compassion and dignity than the now close to 60 million babies killed in abortion. Every abortion is a horrible act of violence. At least a certain percentage go through excruciating pain as their bodies are torn apart.

If a criminal were executed in this way, the vast majority of people would be repulsed. As Father Mason wrote, “The governor did ‘afflict’ his views on society in this case” (capital punishment).

So, Mr. Cuomo imposed his moral view of saving the relatively few lives of criminals guilty of horrible crimes from a controlled death but he refused to impose his moral view in saving the lives of millions of innocent children from horrifically violent deaths. Even a condemned criminal can see his or her clergyman to repent before execution. But the innocent children go off to their execution without Baptism.

If a Catholic man, Mr. Cuomo, could not see (or want to see) the obvious inconsistency and gross injustice of his stance, I cannot hold him up as a man to be admired or seen as a good Catholic example. Let us pray that God will have mercy on his soul.

FATHER DAVID P. BERTOLOTTI

Far Rockaway