Father Luciano Braga Simplício was caught on camera in a state of undress with a member of his congregation in Nova Maringá, Brazil – but claimed she was simply getting changed in one of his rooms
Shocking footage circulating on social media has captured the moment a priest was caught topless with a parishioner’s fiancée on church property.
Father Luciano Braga Simplício, who oversaw the Nossa Senhora Aparecida Parish, in Nova Maringá, Brazil was rumbled while in a state of undress with a congregant on Monday. The priest has not yet commented on the incident, which was caught on shocking footage before being shared widely on social media.
The family of the bride-to-be are also yet to comment. The clip showed the moment the groom broke down the doors of the bedroom and bathroom after Simplício refused to open up.
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On entering, he finds the bride weeping under the bathroom sink. The Diocese of Diamantino (MT), which oversees the parish, has released a statement saying it had launched an investigation into the priest’s conduct.
“We communicate that, with the good of the Church and the people of God in mind, all the canonical measures foreseen are already being duly taken. We ask for everyone’s understanding and prayers,” he said.
An audio clip is also doing the rounds online, with Simplício trying to justify the reason the woman was in the parish house. He said she asked for permission to use one of the rooms to get changed and take a shower after working in the church that morning.
“She joked, ‘Father, I’m going to sleep there,’ and I told her to sleep outside. She was alone and the boy [groom] had traveled,” the priest can be heard saying in the audio clip.
Back in July, it emerged that a former priest at a “cult church” had sexually assaulted a “staggering number” of female congregants. Christopher Brain, 68, leader of the evangelical movement the Nine O’Clock Service (NOS), in Sheffield, exerted control over their lives and ostracised them from friends and family.
Brain, who ran the church between 1986 and 1995, s accused of one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault between 1981 and 1995 against 13 women. Prosecutor Tim Clark KC told jurors at Inner London Crown Court the NOS church group was aimed at younger people and “presented itself to the outside world as a progressive force for good”.
He added: “”In truth NOS became a closed and controlled group which the defendant dominated and abused his position first as a leader and then as an ordained priest to sexually assault a staggering number of women from his congregation.”