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“She lived with her lover, so she was a public sinner,” Father Mazzotta said.

Everyone, including this priest, is a public sinner.

Not that it matters, since on principle you have a problem with everything the Catholic Church does, but you a) misunderstand what public sin is and b) are missing the rest of the point. Public sin is things like being an out of the closet practicing homosexual who basically advertises their sin unashamedly. Of course everyone is a sinner, but not everyone is a public sinner. I sin, but how many have you witnessed?

Also, the kicker here is the idea of unrepentant sin, not public sin. A woman co-habitating with a man is living in a state of sin. If she's unreprentant than she is living in brazen opposition to Our Lord's teaching. The priest must deny her a Catholic funeral. Just the same as if she were a Rainbow Sash gay activist trying to accept the Eucharist.

Are there many sinners who do wind up receiving the Eucharist or a Catholic funeral? Yes. But it's not as if the priest can discern who has sin on his conscience or not. But a public, unrepentant sinner who advertised their sin proudly? That's pretty obvious. So does he believe she's in hell?