The Backroom

MIAMI (Reuters) - A former Roman Catholic priest and media celebrity who left the Catholic Church last month after he was photographed cuddling a woman on a Florida beach has married his girlfriend, local media reported on Wednesday.

Alberto Cutie, 40, who joined the Episcopalian Church after the photos scandal stoked debate over the Catholic celibacy requirement for priests, married 35-year-old Ruhama Buni Canellis on Tuesday in a civil ceremony, the Miami Herald reported.





Embattled priest, Father Albert Cutié left the Roman Catholic Archdiose for the Episcopal church and announced that he will marry Ruhama Canellis, the woman at the center of the religious scandal that has rocked the Miami area.

Cutié and Canellis had apparently been having an affair for two years when they were photographed frolicking on the beach and kissing. Those photos, which ran in TV Notas a few weeks ago, led to the Father being forced to leave his congregation and posts in the Archdiocese of Miami. At the time, Cutié said he wasn't sure which direction his life would take, or whether he would continue being a Catholic priest. The whole ordeal had been the cause of much soul searching on his part, especially since the woman at the heart of the matter was not a fling, but rather someone he loved.

Cutié and Canellis participated in a small, private cermony yesterday surrounded by Priests and deacons from the Episcopal church, many of whom were accompanied by their wives. Bishop Leo Frade, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, led the ceremony as the couple were officially accepted into the Episcopal church.

"I am continuing the call to spread God's love," Cutié told the Miami Herald, pointing out that he had experienced a "deep spiritual and ideological struggle."



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