Priest quits church after affair with chorist's wife

The Local
November 11, 2014

http://www.thelocal.it/20141111/priest-leaves-church-after-affair-with-choristers-wife

A priest has abandoned his parish in a small town on the outskirts of the northern Italian province of Rovigo following revelations of an affair with a parishioner.

The 40-year-old decided to leave the parish in the Medio Polesine for a period of “reflection” after the affair was exposed last week, Il Gazzettino reported.

The relationship was discovered by a private investigator hired by the woman’s suspicious husband, who heads the church’s choir.

The priest reportedly told Bishop Lucio De Franceschi that he intended to use the time to “reflect on his future”.

The husband has since separated from his wife.

In early October, a Catholic bishop in the UK resigned after admitting to two affairs with parishioners, one of them being a 43-year-old married mother-of-two.

Kieron Conry, who was bishop of Arundel and Brighton for 13 years, said he had been "unfaithful to his promises" as a priest.

The Roman Catholic Church later ordered an inquiry into whether he had taken advantage of “vulnerable” women.