SCOTLAND
Scotsman
By MARTYN MCLAUGHLIN and NATALIE WALKER
Published on Sunday 24 February 2013
POPE Benedict will consider allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” levelled by priests against Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic clergyman, Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
In a move that has sent shockwaves throughout the Church, three priests and one former cleric have sent detailed allegations relating to Cardinal O’Brien’s behaviour towards them to the Pope’s representative in the UK.
Yesterday, as the move to involve the papacy in investigating the allegations became public, Cardinal O’Brien did not say Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, at which he would have led prayers for the Pope.
Last night, it was confirmed that the demands by the four for the cardinal – due to travel to Rome tomorrow to take part in the election of a new pope – to resign have been received by the Vatican.
Federico Lombardi, a spokesman for the Vatican, said: “The Pope is informed about the problem and the question is now in his hands.”
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