The Spanish Catholic Church has formally stripped the nation’s youngest bishop of his powers, months after he resigned from his clerical submit to marry a “transgressive” writer of erotica whose works comprise satanic references.
In an announcement issued on Saturday, the Spanish Episcopal Convention (SEC) stated that Xavier Novell – as soon as a high-profile bishop within the Solsona diocese – had forfeited his clerical privileges and powers after marrying novelist Silvia Caballol in a civil ceremony in Barcelona final month.
Citing Canon Legislation, the SEC – a group of bishops from dioceses throughout the nation – famous that Novell was now prohibited from “exercising any of the rights and duties inherent to the episcopal workplace” and cautioned that “different doable penalties” might comply with.
Though Novell has been allowed to retain his standing as bishop, he can not conduct any of the capabilities and roles associated to the place – akin to “administering the sacraments or partaking in any educating exercise, whether or not public or personal.”
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In 2010, Novell had turn out to be Spain’s youngest bishop when, as a 41-year-old, he was appointed to Solsona, a small municipality within the nation’s northeastern Catalonia. He gained prominence after supporting independence for the area. In line with the BBC, Novell had additionally backed so-called conversion therapies for homosexual individuals and carried out exorcisms.
On the finish of August, Novell got here into the nationwide highlight after studies surfaced about how he had withdrawn from his submit on what was described as “strictly private grounds.” Nevertheless, native media shops reported that he had confided to pals about having “fallen in love with a lady, for the primary time in [his] life and [wanted] to do issues proper.”
Caballol, a 38-year-old medical psychologist who turned a novelist in 2015, was then recognized as the thing of his affection. Her writer describes Caballo as a “dynamic and transgressive writer.” Her works embody titles such because the ‘Amnesia’ trilogy and ‘The Hell of Gabriel’s Lust’, which delves into the “crude wrestle between good and evil, between God and Devil, and between the angels and demons.”
Neither Novell nor Caballol has but commented about their marriage or the suspension of his clerical powers.
