Alabama Priest Who Married Teen Is Laicized by Pope

UPDATE Jan 10, 2024 8:13 AM CST

The Alabama priest who fled to Europe with an 18-year-old and then married her has been removed from the priesthood, with Pope Francis confirming Alex Crow's laicization in a letter. The archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama, said Crow "initiated the process for his own laicization." Archbishop Thomas Rodi thanked the pope for his decision, which he hoped would help everyone "move toward peace after these unsettling events." While no criminal charges were brought against Crow, 30, the National Catholic Reporter reports the teen's family raised concerns she had been groomed by him. The Mobile County Sheriff's Office released a letter Crow wrote to the then-17-year-old on Valentine's Day 2023 in which he described himself as "married" to her and said, "You have made my life both astronomically more complicated and incredibly better at the same time. You are [Jesus'] gift to me."

Nov 23, 2023 6:10 AM CST

State records show that a suspended Alabama priest on Friday married the 18-year-old woman he fled to Italy with this summer, and an archbishop said Wednesday that he expects the Vatican to pursue the man's official dismissal from the priesthood. The AP reports a marriage certificate filed Monday in Mobile County shows that Alex Crow, a 30-year-old Catholic priest in south Alabama, married the 18-year-old days prior.

Crow left the country in late July with the teen, who is a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen High School. Crow was not an employee at the school but sometimes visited theology classes there, news outlets reported. The marriage certificate indicates the woman turned 18 in June. The Guardian reports her parents didn't know she was going to Italy with him. AL.com reports the two remained in Europe for about four months. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi announced in July that he had suspended Crow and forbidden him from acting, dressing, or presenting himself as a priest. Rodi later said he saw no way for Crow to return to the priesthood.

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The district attorney in Mobile County earlier this month announced that it had closed an investigation into criminal wrongdoing in the pair's relationship. News outlets reported that Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said the young woman came to a meeting with an attorney and declined to answer questions. "Without being able to speak with the young lady about these events, we do not have sufficient admissible evidence to charge a crime at this point," he said in a statement, per the Guardian. "Therefore, this investigation is currently closed." (More Catholic priest stories.)