Brazilian Bishop Who Buffed His Baton On Camera Is Forced To Resign

WHATEVER you call it – paddling the pink canoe or coddling the cudgel – masturbation is healthy. By heck, there is even an International Masturbation Month, held each May.

Image via Facebook/ Diocese de São José do Rio Preto

But there’s a time and place for everything, a hard lesson learned this week by Brazilian Bishop Tomé Ferreira da Silva, 60, above, who – according to The Catholic News Agency – has had to resign after a video surfaced on the Internet recently showing him jerking off during a video call with some guy.

While medical science sees nothing whatsoever disordered about masturbation, the Catholic Church is rigidly opposed to it.

The Catechism of the church teaches that masturbation “is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action” and that:

The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Bishop of São José do Rio Preto yesterday (Wednesday), five days after the sexually explicit video of the bishop was shared on the Internet.

Da Silva, 60, led the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto from November 16, 2012, until August 18. His resignation was announced by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil.

The Apostolic Nunciature informs that the Holy Father accepted the request today of resignation from the pastoral government of the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto, presented by His Excellency.

The statement was signed by Bishop Joel Portella Amado, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of S. Sebastião of Rio de Janeiro and Secretary General of the CNBB.

On August 13, the minute-long video of da Silva began making the rounds on social media.

Da Silva reportedly told the Brazilian network Globo that he is the person in the video, and he believed that its release was an act of “revenge porn” by someone with whom he lives. He told Brazilian media that he would be speaking to his attorney as well as Brazil’s state police force to determine how the video was released.

This is not the bishop’s first brush with controversy. He has been investigated multiple times by the Vatican for alleged sexual misconduct or for covering up sexual misconduct.

In 2015, he was accused of having a romantic relationship with his driver. Three years later, the diocese was investigated amid reports that the bishop had failed to investigate reports of abuse. He further was accused of sending sexually explicit messages to an adolescent.

Da Silva denied all charges.