A shirtless Brazilian priest was found hiding a parishioner's fiancée under a bathroom sink — though he insisted that she had only been taking a shower. Rev. Luciano Braga Simplicio was confronted by a group of enraged men inside the parish house of Our Lady of Aparecida Church, as the furious groom-to-be burst in and angrily demanded answers.
The incident took place on October 13 in Nova Maringá, a small town of about 5,000 residents in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, 300 miles east of the Bolivian border. Wearing only a pair of gym shorts, the priest tried several times to leave the room but was stopped by the crowd.
Caught Red Handed
The crowd demanded he open a door they believed was hiding the missing fiancée. Simplicio had allegedly brought the woman to his home next to the church early that morning while her fiancé was away, according to the local blog Pelo Bem de São José.
When confronted, the priest appeared stunned and visibly confused as the angry men shouted at him, with his clerical robes and other religious items scattered in the background.
In a viral video of the incident, Simplicio can be seen knocking on a door several times and trying to push past the man filming, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
The furious fiancé quickly lost patience with the priest's knocking and grabbed a stool to smash open the locked bedroom door. Moments later, he ran to another closed door and broke it down the same way.
Inside the bathroom, the group found his missing 21-year-old fiancée hiding beneath the sink.
The young woman, dressed only in a tank top and shorts, was pulled out from under the vanity, crying as she lay on the floor.
Crowd Fury
Both the woman and the priest denied having any kind of sexual relationship. Simplicio told the Brazilian outlet Termômetro da Política that the woman had only been in his bathroom to take a shower after spending a long day working at the church.
The shocking video quickly went viral, stirring up controversy and division throughout the small town.
In response, the Diocese of Diamantino — which oversees both Simplicio and Our Lady of Aparecida Church — announced it had launched an internal investigation into the priest's alleged behavior.
"We communicate that, with the good of the Church and the people of God in mind, all the necessary canonical measures are already being duly taken. We ask for everyone's understanding and prayers," the diocese said.
The investigation will look into whether Simplicio violated the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which forbids priests in the Latin Church from engaging in romantic or sexual relationships, according to the outlet.
Meanwhile, the woman has filed a police report, stating that the now-viral video was shared without her consent after the incident.
