Scottish cardinal who admitted sexual misconduct resigns

Tuesday, March 24th, 2015

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien from the rights and privileges of being a cardinal.

Cardinal O’Brien had previously admitted sexual misconduct towards several men.

He will no longer be invited to attend consistories and other gatherings of cardinals, including an eventual conclave for the election of a new pope.

But he retains the title of cardinal, and can wear a cardinal’s vestments in private and also retains his faculties as a priest and retired bishop.

But according to the Scottish Catholic Church, he will be “reduced to a strictly private life with no further participation in any public, religious or civil events”.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in early 2013.

This came after the Observer carried a story detailing complaints of three priests and one former priest who alleged he had made sexual advances toward them.

The cardinal initially denied the allegations but, less than a week later, he issued a public apology for his actions.

He did not attend the March conclave that elected Pope Francis.

Pope Francis subsequently asked him to undertake a period of prayer and penance and then sent then-Bishop Charles Scicluna to undertake an inquiry last April.

Archbishop Scicluna, a former top prosecutor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, filed a report with Francis which was described by one of Cardinal O’Brien’s accusers as “hot enough to burn the varnish” off the Pope’s desk.

A Vatican spokesman said the resignation was “not a punishment resulting from a process” or any formal proceedings against the cardinal, but rather it came from the cardinal himself after a long period of prayer and reflection “in dialogue with the Holy Father”.

In his own statement, Cardinal O’Brien again apologised “to the Catholic Church and the people of Scotland”.

“I thank Pope Francis for his fatherly care of me and of those I have offended in any way.”

Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh said the cardinal’s behaviour had “distressed many, demoralised faithful Catholics and made the Church less credible to those who are not Catholic”.

Sources