Brazilian priest suspended for sending nude selfie to an apparent mistress

A Brazilian priest known for conservative views on moral issues and disapproving in his sermons of kissing and sex has been suspended for sending a nude selfie to an apparent mistress on his cell phone.

"Father Alfredo Rosa Borges has been suspended from his duties," and faces ex-communication, a diocesan spokesman at Campos de Goytacazes, a northern town in Rio state, said on Tuesday.

Borges is seen posing naked in front of a mirror holding his cell phone in pictures posted last week via smartphone service Whatsapp, which have since appeared in online media.

Rio daily O Dia reported he had admitted sending suggestive messages to a woman who later posted them but denied having an intimate relationship with her.

"An investigation has been opened, but the photo comprises a transgression for the Church," the bishop of Campos, Roberto Francisco, told O Dia.

Worshippers at Borges' Santo Antonio church reported he had first insisted that the picture was fake but then conceded it was him and explained that "we are all sinners".