A fake priest was able to hear confessions and perform wedding ceremonies for almost two decades before being unmasked, a Roman Catholic diocese in Spain revealed on Monday.

Marriages and baptisms carried out by Miguel Angel Ibarra remain valid but confessions are not, a spokeswoman for the diocese of Cadiz and Ceuta said, even though the "grace of God acted" on the parishioners who were deceived.

Mr Ibarra moved to Spain from Colombia in October 2017 and had been in charge of the church in the village of Medina Sidonia, which is home to some 11,000 people, in the southern region of Andalusia.

Colombian church officials informed the diocese on December 13 that it had received an allegation that Mr Ibarra had forged his ordination documents.

After carrying out a "thorough investigation", they had concluded that Mr Ibarra had indeed never been ordained, the Spanish diocese said in a statement.