"Scottish prelate in sex case renounces cardinal’s privileges" by Frances D’Emilio, Associated Press March 21, 2015
VATICAN CITY — A Scottish cardinal who admitted to sexual misdeeds has renounced the duties and privileges of his position, an arrangement agreed to after meeting with Pope Francis, church officials said Friday.
A Vatican statement said Francis had accepted 77-year-old Keith O’Brien’s ‘‘resignation of the rights and privileges of a cardinal.’’
While O’Brien can still be called a cardinal, he won’t have the rights of the position, including voting in elections for pontiffs and advising the pope on church governance and other important matters.
Oh, how severe!
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‘‘Cardinal O’Brien’s decision followed a private discussion with Pope Francis which was preceded by a period of prayer and penance in order to reflect upon his misconduct,’’ the current archdiocese head, Archbishop Leo Cushley, said in a statement.
Once Britain’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, O’Brien left the archbishop’s post after unidentified priests alleged in newspaper reports he acted inappropriately toward them. O’Brien eventually said his sexual conduct had ‘‘fallen below the standards’’ expected of a priest and apologized.
Cushley called the pope’s decision ‘‘fair, equitable, and proportionate.’’
‘‘Cardinal O’Brien’s behavior distressed many, it demoralized faithful Catholics, and it made the Church less credible to those who are not Catholic,’’ Cushley said.
The Vatican said the pope encourages the Scottish faithful to continue the reconciliation process.
Critics of the church’s handling of sexual abuse cases noted that no details of the misconduct were revealed.
Cushley said details of a fact-finding visit last year by Francis’s personal envoy are fully known ‘‘only to the Holy Father’’ and the prelate who conducted the investigation.
French Jesuit Louis Billot was the last cardinal to renounce his status, in 1927. That resignation came over tensions between Billot and Pope Pius XI over Action Francais, a far-right French monarchist movement that Billot supported. He remained a priest and theologian for four more years until his death.
The Tablet, a British Catholic publication, reported Friday that a church investigator’s report on the O’Brien case was ‘‘hot enough to burn the varnish’’ off the pope’s desk.
The inquiry was led by Charles Scicluna, archbishop of Malta, who formerly was a top prosecutor for the church’s doctrine-enforcing body. While the review was underway, the pope asked O’Brien to ‘‘undertake a period of prayer and penance,’’ The Tablet reported, and O'Brien has been out of public view.
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Also see: Archdiocese takes group holding vigil at Scituate church to court
I'm sure it's related.
