Bishop Xavier Novell The president of the Spanish bishops’ conference has appealed for a former Catalan bishop to have his privacy respected, following media reports he moved in with an erotic fiction writer two weeks after resigning his see.
“I share the pain of his family and the Church of Solsona, which has been touched by this, along with the rest of Catalonia and its bishops, who’ve walked with him for so many years,” Cardinal Juan José Omella told a Madrid news conference September 9.
“But it also hurts me that people have turned this into such a morbid, crushing story. When someone leaves his ministry for his own reasons, you have to respect his privacy. We are all sinners needing forgiveness, and we should also value those who stay faithful.”
The cardinal commented on media reports that Bishop Xavier Novell Gomà was now cohabiting with Silvia Caballol Clemente, a divorced mother of two, following Pope Francis’ acceptance of his resignation August 23.
Cardinal Omella said he had been “surprised like everyone else” by the 52-year-old’s sudden departure and had offered him personal help, but added that details of the “uneasy case” were still not known.
Meanwhile, the bishop appointed to administer the Solsona Diocese also urged Catholics to respect Novell’s “personal reasons” for leaving.