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  Miami Priest and Media Personality, Father Alberto Cutie, Steps down Amid Photo Scandal

By Rob Kuznia
Hispanic Business
May 5, 2009

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/2009/5/5/miami_priest_and_media_personality_father.htm

The career of a 39-year-old priest and media personality in Miami came crashing down today, after photos published in a Spanish-language magazine allegedly captured him having a romantic interlude with a woman on the beach.

Cuban-American Father Alberto Cutie resigned as the head of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Miami Beach, the Archdiocese of Miami announced today. He also stepped down as president of Radio Paz and Radio Peace, Catholic 24-hour radio stations run by the diocese, a diocese spokeswoman told the Associated Press.

The handsome priest has been dubbed by Newsweek as the "Father Oprah," and it isn't difficult to understand why.

In addition to hosting a popular radio show on Radio Paz, Cutie also hosted Hablando Claro con el Padre Alberto, a Spanish-language talk show that reaches an audience of millions worldwide on the Catholic-themed Eternal World Television Network. Cutie also penned an advice column for many Spanish-language newspapers, such as El Nuevo Herald.

He also appeared in a recent Q-and-A session on Beliefnet.com titled "'Father Oprah' Explains How to Make Love Last." In the first question, the interviewer asked him how, "as a celibate Catholic priest," he can give advice to married people.

The photos ran in TVnotas, a Spanish-language magazine, which featured the priest in blue shorts, lying on his back next to a woman in a bathing suit on Miami Beach. One of the roughly two dozen images -- which were taken over a three-day period -- shows him kissing the woman, and another shows him sticking a hand inside the woman's bathing suit, the Miami Herald reported.

The Herald reports that the paparazzi for six weeks had been trying to sell the photos at a six-figure price.

 
 

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