A SPANISH bishop has resigned from his position in order to marry an erotic novelist.
Xavier Novell announced his decision to leave the church just 11 years after he became the youngest bishop in Spain at the age of 41.
The 52-year-old sent shockwaves through the community in Catalunya when he suddenly resigned from his position as the diocese of Solsona for ‘personal reasons’.
It has now been revealed that he took the personal decision in order to pursue a relationship with erotic novel writer Silvia Caballol.
“I have fallen in love with a woman and I want to do things well,” Novell told Spanish newspaper El Pais. “It is a magnificent vocation but I see that the Lord has wanted me to renounce that beautiful thing to have a bigger family.”
According to El Pais, Novell will also ask for the Pope’s permission for a dispensation from the vow of celibacy and obedience that all Catholic bishops take when they enter the priesthood.
If the Pope gives Novell his blessing, he is set to marry the 38-year-old writer from Barcelona who has penned at least two novels – Amnesia Trilogy and The Hell of Gabriel’s Lust, which is described as an erotic novel with Satanic overtones.