Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien has said he will spend the rest of his life in retirement after admitting “there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal”.
Cardinal O’Brien had been the most senior Catholic in Britain until his resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on February 18 after three priests and a former priest accused him of “inappropriate acts” in the 1980s.
These allegations were made to the papal nuncio in London and later published in The Observer newspaper.
The 74-year-old former archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh apologised to those he had offended, to the Catholic Church and to the people of Scotland.
After the cardinal’s resignation was accepted, further allegations were published by The Scotsman newspaper, which said another priest had complained last October about his “inappropriate behaviour” in 2001.
The Scotsman said the priest was believed to have written directly to Rome because he did not think he could trust the Church hierarchy in Scotland to handle the matter.
The report said news of this complaint spread inside the Church and then the other four men felt the confidence to come forward with their complaints.
The paper said the October complaint led to the Vatican contacting Cardinal O’Brien and a “deal” being brokered by Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec City for the departure of the leader of Scotland’s Catholics.
In recent years Cardinal O’Brien had been a strong critic of same-sex relationships, saying they were “demonstrably harmful to the medical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of those involved”.
Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow, who has been appointed apostolic administrator of St Andrews and Edinburgh until a new archbishop is chosen, has said the archdiocese is in a “state of shock for the loss of its shepherd”.
Sources:
Keith O’Brien (Wikipedia)
Image: The Guardian