The Truth Finally Revealed: Cardinal O'Brien Apologizes

By Eko Armunanto
Digital Journal
March 3, 2013

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/344765

Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien, Scottish Cardinal and the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh of the Roman Catholic Church.

[with video]

The disgraced U.K. cardinal finally admits his bad sexual conduct. O'Brien initially rejected the claims, saying he was resigning because he did not want to distract from the upcoming conclave that will pick a successor to the resigned Pope Benedict XVI.

Following the accusation of inappropriate behaviour and his resignation as reported here in Digital Journal by Robert Myles and Greta McClain, a CNN report Sunday said Cardinal Keith O'Brien acknowledged having engaged in unspecified sexual misbehavior and promised to play no further part in the public life of the church. Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned Monday from his position as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh after a newspaper published unnamed priests' accounts of unspecified inappropriate behavior. Cardinal Keith O'Brien who was, in fact, forced to resign by the pope last week, made a dramatic admission that he was guilty of sexual misconduct throughout his career in the Roman Catholic church. "There have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal. To those I have offended, I apologize and ask forgiveness. To the Catholic church and people of Scotland, I also apologize. I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic church in Scotland", said a Catholic church in Scotland quoting O'Brien's statement. About his previous denial, O'Brien said: "In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them". His statement goes significantly further than the apology and partial admissions which he made in his resignation statement last week, when he said: "Looking back over my years of ministry, for any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended". The Guardian says O'Brien's much wider admissions are a significant rebuff to some senior figures in the Scottish church who had repeatedly downplayed the allegations disclosed in the Observer, calling them unsubstantiated, non-specific and anonymous. O'Brien has effectively admitted he had been breaching the church's strict rules on celibacy and its bar on homosexuality since he became a priest – and during his 10 years as a cardinal. It was alleged that some of these incidents were "drunken fumblings". The British newspaper also said that one case reported by the Observer involved repeated sexual contact.

In an interview with BBC Scotland shortly before the allegations against him were made public, the cardinal said he believed priests should be able to marry and have children if they wished. He said it was clear many priests struggled to cope with celibacy. O'Brien said celibacy should be reconsidered because it's not based on doctrine but rather church tradition and "is not of divine origin".