Cutié's Confession

Randy Reverend explains his love struggle

There were plenty of tough questions -- but no priest's collar -- as Father Alberto Cutié faced the music during a live interview with CBS this morning.

Cutié, appearing on "The Early Show" with his clerical clothing noticeably absent, was pressed for answers on why he was caught in the midst of a steamy beach escapade with a woman in photos released last week.

"They're very hard to explain," Cutié said. "It's not easy for anyone to have to deal with. I know it's wrong."

The scandal-plagued Catholic priest attempted to quell the celibacy debate and explain that this was an isolated incident with a woman he's in love with.

"This is a struggle that I've been through," Cutié said. "This is someone that I love."

Cutié said he'd been a priest for 22 years and had never had a sexual relationship with anyone until he met 35-year-old Ruhama Canellis.

The Miami Beach priest said that he and Canellis with had been friends for a long time, but it was only recently that he'd dropped his vow of celibacy.

"In the last couple of years it became sexual," Cutié said. "From the photos it looks like a frivolous thing on the beach but it's more than that. I was motivated by love for someone."

About 25 photos of Cutié and Canellis canoodling on the beach appeared in a Spanish-language magazine last week, forcing the popular priest, often referred to as "Father Oprah," out of his St. Francis de Sales parish.

According to Cutié, a lifeguard on the beach, which he said was nearly empty at the time, called a paparazzi friend who came and snapped the incriminating photos.

Cutié admitted that it was wrong for him to have a sexual relationship with the woman, and said he was afraid he'd become the "poster boy" for the anti-celibacy debate, which was rehashed this week in the wake of Cutié's scandal.

"I don't want to be the anti-celibacy priest," Cutié said. "Celibacy is good, it's a good commitment to God."

Cutié did suggest that perhaps celibacy should be optional for Catholic priests, but refused to say what his plans for the future are.

He wouldn't say whether he was still sexually involved with Canellis, nor would he say whether he plans to leave the priesthood and get married.

"I think I need to pray and think about things," Cutié said.

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