Two Catholic priests from Chicago have been charged with lewd and lascivious behaviour after being arrested for allegedly engaging in oral sex in a car near Miami Beach in Florida, the Chicago Tribune has reported.

The priests were identified as Father Diego Berrio, 39, and Father Edwin M Giraldo-Cortez, 30. Berrio works as a spiritual director and canonical adviser for a youth group while Cortez, who hails from Colombia, was serving as the extern priest at St Aloysius Parish in Chicago.

The two priests were caught in the act of performing oral sex on Ocean Drive in broad daylight in the vicinity of a children’s park. A police officer who spotted them inside a black Volkswagen during the course of the act went about knocking on the passenger window with his body camera still rolling.

The priests “did not immediately notice my presence,” the police officer who responded to the 911 call wrote in his report. “To get their attention, I was forced to knock on the window.”

According to the police report, “The (sexual) act was occurring in full view of the public passing by on Ocean Drive and the sidewalk. It should be noted that the vehicle’s windows were completely clear (no tints/sunscreening material).”

Cortez faces an additional charge of indecent exposure because his genitalia was fully exposed.

“Cardinal Blase J Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, has removed Fr Berrio from ministry and withdrawn his faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago, effective immediately,” the Archdiocese of Chicago said in a statement .