Holy Smoke!
That’s exactly what Father Tomé Ferreira de Silva, the bishop of the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto is saying now that he has been caught up in yet another sex scandal.
The priest was caught exposing himself on a zoom call and now the Pope has replaced him.
Pope Francis has accepted Bishop Ferreira de Silva’s resignation after the 60-year-old clergy exposed himself over a video to others. But this is not the first time he has been in trouble for salacious behavior.
An Instagram post from IB Times shared the headlines overseas, “Tomé Ferreira de Silva, the bishop of the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto, has previously been accused of sexual misconduct, mismanaging funds of the diocese and ignoring allegations of local priests abusing minors.”
The Vatican has been investigating him for covering up church sex scandals in Latin America for years.
The Roman Catholic church alleged that he embezzled money from the catholic church, had a romantic affair with his driver, and also sent sexually explicit messages to an adolescent male. In fact, in 2014, the diocese that he served petitioned to have him removed.
Natalia Truzzi, one of the signers of the petition, told the Diario de Regiao, “We had already signed another petition, in 2014, asking for his replacement, but we received no response. This time, we hope that the church will pronounce itself, because after the video, his presence in front of the diocese and in celebrations will be difficult.”
This story is developing.