The marriage certificate, filed in Mobile County on Monday, confirmed that Alex Crow, a suspended Alabama priest, recently married an 18-year-old woman whom he had fled to Italy with over the summer. The woman, a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen High School, turned 18 in June, according to the document. While Crow was not an employee at the school, he occasionally visited theology classes there.

Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi, who had previously suspended Crow and prohibited him from acting as a priest, announced that he expects the Vatican to pursue the priest's official dismissal from the priesthood. In a statement issued by the Archdiocese of Mobile, it was stated that "the recent news of Crow's civil marriage only confirms the Archbishop's judgment."

The district attorney in Mobile County, Keith Blackwood, recently closed an investigation into potential criminal wrongdoing in the relationship between Crow and the teenager. The young woman had attended a meeting with an attorney and declined to answer any questions, according to reports.

The affair between the disgraced Alabama priest and the 18-year-old woman became evident when authorities discovered a love letter from Crow to the teenager on Valentine's Day, while she was still a student at McGill-Toolen High School. Crow and the woman traveled to Europe over the summer before returning to the US earlier this month.

Archbishop Rodi made it clear that Crow's days as a priest were likely over, stating that he had informed Crow that he could no longer exercise ministry, dress as a priest, or present himself as a priest. Rodi condemned Crow's actions as "totally unbecoming of a priest."

Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch had expressed concerns over potential grooming between Crow and the teenager, given their age difference. However, the district attorney's statement indicated that no charges would be filed due to a lack of admissible evidence.

Further details emerged from a love letter that Crow wrote to the teenager on Valentine's Day, in which he claimed they were already married when she was only 17. However, the marriage license filed listed the date as November 17.

Both Crow and the woman, as well as their families, have not responded to the latest developments. Crow, a self-proclaimed expert in the theological study of demons and exorcism, had volunteered at McGill-Toolen High School, where he first met the teenager.