SOLSONA, Spain (LifeSiteNews) — After obtaining papal approval and laicization, the former bishop of Solsona has had a Catholic marriage to the divorced, pornographic author he civilly married in 2021.
On April 2, the Spanish erotica-author Silvia Caballol announced via Instagram that she and Xavier Novell had received a Catholic marriage recently.
“Xavier and I, finally, were able to get married in the Church, thanks to the mercy of the Holy Father who granted him secularization. I was amazed at the great human and spiritual quality of Pope Francis,” Caballol wrote. No more specific details of the ceremony were given.
The former bishop of Solsona, Novell was one of the youngest bishops in Spain at the time of his appointment in 2010. On August 23, 2021 Pope Francis publicly accepted the resignation of the 52-year-old prelate, with the Spanish bishops stating that Novell had offered his resignation for “strictly personal reasons” and that he did so under the conditions of Canon 401 §2 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law.
Some weeks later it emerged that that Novell had resigned in order to continue his relationship with Caballol and to move in with her. Caballol, 14 years Novell’s junior and already a divorcee with three children from a former marriage, is a psychologist and author.
READ: Ousted ‘conservative’ bishop who moved in with erotic novelist is no martyr for tradition
Her publisher describes her as “an inveterate reader of romantic and erotic novels” who “always transmits this weakness to all the manuscripts she writes.” She also trained in, and now specializes in, clinical psychology, sexology, anti-stress techniques, and yoga, as well as in courses on Catholicism and Islam.
Caballol’s CV does indeed include works with strong erotic and satanic tones, an aspect even highlighted widely by secular media in late 2021. The author has defended her works from media criticism, saying they were written “during a very particular time” in her life, and that “whoever is free from sin cast the first stone.”
Following his August 2021 resignation, Novell then entered into a civil marriage with Caballol in November 2021, prompting the Diocese of Solsona to announce that he was suspended, as per Canon 1394 §1. While remaining a bishop, Novell was prohibited from any public or private ministry.
In April 2022 – 8 months after Novell’s resignation – it was announced in local news that Caballol had just given birth to twin daughters with Novell. Since that time, news about the pair has remained scarce until Caballol’s announcement this week.
“It has been a long road, but we have been able to regulate our canonical situation: marry as we wanted and be able to receive communion again,” she wrote April 2. Novell “is still a bishop, but unable to carry out the ministry,” said Caballol, in a line which appeared to contradict her earlier statement that Novell had been laicized.
She continued:
Many would have preferred to hide this information, but I have always believed that if a man is convinced of what he does and feels, it is necessary to bet on naturalness, normality, transparency, to go straight, without leaving room for speculation, and to walk under the light. I do not believe that fossilization is what our love deserves, nor the Church.
Nor do I believe that the concealment that accompanied my husband’s resignation two and a half years ago was in any way a mistake.
Novell’s episcopal career was marked by contradictions and “fickleness.” He was outspoken about the evil of homosexual activity, while describing himself as both “conservative” and “progressive.” As LifeSite’s Jeanne Smits reported in 2021, Novell’s record while in seminary included advocating for female ordination, optional clerical celibacy, and general absolution.
He also made headlines for his political action, flipping between banning priests from being politically active in 2014, to then himself prominently supporting Catalonian independence in 2017.
LifeSite has contacted the Spanish bishops’ conference for comment on Novell’s reported marriage, and will update this report upon receipt of a response.