(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed a Brazilian bishop who permitted the “wedding” of a man still married to another woman.

Pope Leo on Tuesday appointed Bishop Francisco Cota de Oliveira, 57, to the Diocese of Itabira-Fabriciano, in Brazil, the Holy See Press Office reported.

Cota allowed the “marriage” of Públio Gonçalves de Carvalho, 76, and Lúcia Carlini Bongenato, 63, in November 2025, Gloria TV reported Wednesday. According to MegaCidade.com, Públio was previously married and had three children when he met Lúcia, who was a single mother of two daughters. 

The couple had lived together for almost four decades and had two more daughters together.

The Brazilian news outlet noted that because of his marriage to another woman, from whom he separated, Públio thought a Catholic wedding to Bongenato was “impossible.” MegaCidade.com does not state that his prior marriage had been declared invalid, or that his spouse had died.

Notably, the cohabiting couple had recently trained to become extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, according to MegaCidade.com.

Nevertheless, Father Carlos Andre sought permission for a “marriage” between the two, and Cota granted it.

The “wedding” was planned to take place at a church in Inhaúma on November 6, 2025. However, at the time, Públio developed a urinary tract infection and was hospitalized. The sacrilegious “wedding” instead took place in his hospital room.

“The priest said that the marriage is a sacrament and that it would not be canceled. If it cannot be in a church, it will be wherever God wants – and He wanted it to be here, in a hospital,” Públio said.

Públio soon died on January 30, 2026, before the couple could finalize a civil union.

Cota was ordained a priest in 1999, and incardinated in the Diocese of Divinópolis. He was appointed titular bishop of Fiorentino and auxiliary of Curitiba in 2017.

He served as his regional bishops’ representative for ecumenism and interreligious dialogue from 2020 to 2023, according to Gloria TV. Within the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, Cota is a member of the Special Commission for Integral Ecology and Mining, according to the Vatican press.

Share