UNITED KINGDOM
Boston Herald
By
Associated Press
LONDON — The Vatican is looking into allegations of “inappropriate behavior” by Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric, officials said Sunday. The claims came at a sensitive time, as O’Brien and other cardinals prepare for a conclave to choose the next pope.
O’Brien, who heads the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, was taking advice from lawyers after British newspaper The Observer reported that three priests and a former priest have filed complaints to the Vatican alleging that the cardinal approached them in an inappropriate manner.
The paper did not cite the names of the priests, but it said their allegations date back to the 1980s..
“Cardinal O’Brien contests these claims and is taking legal advice,” Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church, said. He declined to comment further.
A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the complaints had been channeled through the office of the papal nuncio — the Vatican’s ambassador — in London. “The pope has been informed, and the question is in his hands,” Lombardi said.
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