Argentine bishop Fernando Maria Bargallo resigns in scandal over photos showing him embracing a woman at a luxury beach in Mexico.

Fernando Maria Bargallo was forced to hand in his resignation to the Apostolic Nunciature, the Vatican’s diplomatic mission in the Argentine capital after photographs emerged this month showing him frolicking and embracing a blonde woman in bikini on a Mexican beach. The Vatican has accepted Bargallo’s resignation.

At the beginning Bargallo said the atractive blonde was only a childhood friend, but later he approved to having had ‘ amorous ties ‘ with her. Monsignor Fernando Maria Bargallo, the bishop of Merlo-Moreno outside Buenos Aires also apologized for the possibility that the scandal might lead to bad interpretations and said he was totally committed to God and the church. He also added that the situation in which he had been photographed was imprudent, as it could lead people to jump to the wrong conclusion.

Catholic bishop Fernando Maria Bargallo resigns in scandal over photos showing him embracing a woman on a Mexican beach

Photographs of the meet of Argentinian bishop and his lover were broadcast by the Argentine television station showed pictures of Monsignor Bargallo on holiday at a beach resort in Mexico in the company of a woman. In one of the pictures, he is seen half-submerged in the water, hugging a woman in a bikini. On the others we can see that Argentinian bishop Fernando Maria Bargallo is close and face-to-face with the bikini-clad woman. Others show them simply enjoying the water and the view in Mexico.

Argentinian Bishop Fernando Maria Bargallo had been the bishop of Merlo Moreno, a populous diocese on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, since May 1997, and until last year was president of Caritas Argentina and currently has the same responsibility in Caritas Latin America, both divisions of Caritas, the international network of Catholic charity organizations.

Pope Benedict XVI accepts Argentine bishop’s Bargallo resignation over sex scandal in Mexico

Pope Benedict XVI has severely denied claims that abstention may have contributed to sex abuse scandals, insisting repeatedly that celibacy is central to the priesthood. Two three months ago he issued a rare condemnation of errant priests, slamming in particular an ‘ appeal to religious disobedience ‘ launched by a group of Austrian clerics in 2011, which argued for an end to priestly celibacy.

Officially the Vatican said that former Argentinian bishop Fernando Maria Bargallo can be replaced by Monsignor Alcides Jorge Pedro Casaretto.