It has been widely reported that Bishop Xavier Novell Gomà, who resigned as Bishop of Solsona last month, did so to cohabit with a divorcee.

The Diocese of Solsona, however, said Sept. 6 that “the decision made by said bishop emeritus [to resign] is due to ‘strictly personal reasons’ and, therefore, the corroboration, or not, of this information belongs strictly to his personal purview.”

Bishop Novell, 52, resigned Aug. 23 citing “strictly personal reasons.” The diocese announced that the decision was made freely and in accord with a canon which asks that a bishop “who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause … present his resignation from office.”

When his resignation was accepted, the diocese said the bishop made his decision “after a period of reflection, discernment and prayer, at the end of which he has spontaneously presented to the Holy Father his own situation and his resignation from the pastoral government of the diocese of Solsona.”

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