"At the time, I suffered under pressure from the media," said Novell in a programme on the Catalonia region's TV3 television station on Sunday.
The father of two daughters went on to say that he had left the office of bishop behind him. "Everyone should judge that as they wish."
He is now an anonymous person and a citizen like everyone else.
He made a confession of love to his wife.
He said he respected her decisions, even if there were issues that they saw very differently.
Until now, Novell had not publicly commented on his resignation from the episcopate and his relationship with Caballol.
In 2021, he offered his resignation to Pope Francis for "strictly personal reasons", as it was called at the time.
A few months later, the now 55-year-old married his girlfriend at the time, with whom he was expecting a child.
In 2024, the couple also got married in church with the Pope's approval.
Caballol in favour of her husband's return to the episcopate
In the television programme "Col-lapse", Novell only spoke in passing. The focus was on his wife, who called on Pope Francis to make celibacy in the church optional for clerics. "It is a disciplinary rule and has nothing to do with faith."
She wrote a letter to Pope Francis in which she told him of her wish for her husband to be reappointed Bishop of Solsona.
The head of the Church sent her a reply. "I can't make its contents public, but I keep it as a memento because I really liked what he wrote to me," said the psychologist and author of erotic books.
If the Church does not allow clergy to remain celibate out of conviction, this step will be taken out of necessity over time.
Novell reacted very cautiously to her first advances and initially kept his distance, said Caballol.
Convincing him of a relationship had been very difficult and had taken more than two years.
Novell, who studied agricultural economics, has been working for a company in the province of Barcelona that trades in pig semen and performs artificial insemination on farm animals since 2021.
Novell was the youngest bishop in Spain when he was consecrated in 2010 and was considered conservative in church matters. He is said to have supported so-called conversion therapies for homosexuals in the church and took part in such a course himself.
Novell is also regarded as an outspoken supporter of the Catalan independence movement.