Father Frederico ceases to be a priest 31 years after the murder of the intelligence officer

Pope Francis has ruled that prominent priest Frederico, convicted 31 years ago of killing a 15-year-old boy scout in Canizal, Madeira, is no longer a priest and is no longer required to remain celibate. .

This news was published today by the Diocese of Funchal on its official website after Bishop Nuno Brás asked for clarification regarding the ecclesiastical situation of the former priest in April 2023.

In the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, D. Nuno Bras asked what to do in the case of the then Father Frederico Cunha, since, despite the fact that his name had not appeared for many years in the list of priests of the diocese and had not exercised any ministry. there was never any canonical trial in this diocese regarding the acts of which he was accused.

The response from the Holy See arrived in Funchal on the 16th, indicating that “having brought the matter to the attention of the Holy Father, Pope Francis has issued a decree depriving Mr. Frederico Marcos da Cunha of his clerical status and releasing him from the obligations of celibacy.”

But in his response, the Pope also asked that this decision be published on the official website of the diocese, which happened yesterday.

So, 31 years after being convicted of murdering a young man with whom he was romantically involved, Frederico Cunha is expelled from the priesthood.

In 1993, a Funchal court found that then-priest Frederico Cunha threw the aforementioned boy from a cliff, suggesting that he intended to end the relationship between them.

Five years later, the then priest, a Brazilian citizen, took advantage of a dangerous exit and traveled to Madrid, where he boarded a plane bound for Rio de Janeiro, where he now lives.