CANADA
CBC News
The resignation of British Cardinal Keith O’Brien on Feb. 24 over allegations of inappropriate behaviour is the latest scandal facing the Catholic Church in the run-up to the election of the next pope in March.
Here’s a look at controversies that have emerged since Pope Benedict announced his resignation on Feb. 11.
O’Brien’s resignation
On Feb. 24, the Vatican accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who heads the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. The 74-year-old O’Brien faces misconduct allegations after three priests and one former priest within the Diocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh filed complaints that he approached them in an inappropriate way, the Observer newspaper reported on Feb. 23.
The physical advances allegedly took place as far back as 30 years ago.
Although O’Brien is contesting the allegations, by stepping down he will no longer be a part of the conclave that will choose a new pope in March.
“I do not wish media attention in Rome to be focused on me, but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and on his successor,” O’Brien said following his resignation.
Vatileaks
On Feb. 21, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Benedict’s decision to step down could have been the result of wanting to distance himself from allegations that a network of closeted gay priests in the Vatican was being subjected to blackmail.
According to the paper, the Pope’s decision to step down came on the same day last December that he received a dossier related to the so-called “Vatileaks” controversy — the 2012 scandal in which the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested for allegedly stealing secret documents.
La Repubblica reported that the dossier concluded that because of their alleged homosexuality, some members of the Holy See were susceptible to “external influence,” in other words, blackmail.
The Vatican replied on Feb. 23 by condemning the “false and damaging reports” and suggesting that the media were trying to influence the election of the next pontiff.
U.S. allegations of coverup
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, former head of the largest Catholic archdiocese in the U.S., is being urged not to take part in the conclave after being accused of protecting more than 120 sexually abusive priests during his time as the archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011.
According to the L.A. Times, a Catholic organization called Catholic United has gathered thousands of signatures and took a petition to Mahoney on Feb. 23, asking that for the well-being of the Catholic Church, Mahony refrain from participating in the conclave.
The protest is in response to the Jan. 31 release of 12,000 pages of personal documents dealing with the accusations and Mahony and other officials’ handling of them, which were published by court order. The files showed that Mahony helped keep accused priests of out trouble.
In one instance, the files showed that an accused priest by the name of Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico when Thomas Curry, Mahony’s aide, advised him that parents of the allegedly abused children might go to the police. Rivera is still a fugitive in Mexico, the Times reported.
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