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A Spanish bishop, Xavier Novell, who was known for his ultraconservative views, has ditched his vow of celibacy and cast away his cassock to step down for a life with his lover, Silvia Caballol, who happens to be a divorced author of erotic-satanic novels, according to The Times.
Novell, who is also, ironically, an exorcist, said that he resigned for "strictly personal reasons", without elaborating, but the Catholic media outlet, Religion Digital, reported that he was in a romatic relationship with Caballol.
According to reports, the fateful meeting between Novell and Caballol took place after he began studiyng demonology. The writer herself is a psychologist, who studied Catholicism, Islam, sexology, and yoga.
Caballol has penned an erotic trilogy called "Amnesia", along with a book named "The Hell of Gabriel's Lust" which is said to cover "the raw struggle between good and evil, god and Satan and angels and demons".
The relationship between the two has triggered a drama among Novell's fellow clergymen, who, according to The Sun, believe he was "possessed by demons". According to some reports, Novell was even urged by Pope Francis to undergo an exorcism to "free his troubled spirit", but refused to do so.
Novell, who was said to be an advocate of "gay conversion therapy" and described abortion as "genocide", became Spain's youngest bishop in 2010.