MIAMI, May 6 (UPI) -- A celebrity priest in South Florida has lost his parish and his radio show because of photographs that show him with a woman on a beach.
Archbishop John Favalora removed the Rev. Albert Cutie from his parish, St. Francis de Sales, after a private conversation with him, The Miami Herald reported. In a statement, Favalora said that Cutie's acts "cannot be condoned."
"The vow of celibacy is part of the ordination," said Mary Ross Agosta, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese. "A man who is a priest is able to totally focus on the church."
The church adopted clerical celibacy about 900 years ago, mostly out of concern that married priests might leave church property to their wives or children.
The photographs taken by paparazzi ran initially in a Mexican entertainment magazine after Florida television stations and publications refused them. They showed Cutie and an unidentified woman entwined on a beach and, in one picture, kissing.
Cutie, who grew up in South Florida, was known for his handsome looks and his enthusiasm. In addition to a radio program, he wrote a column on relationships for the Herald's Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald.
