UNITED KINGDOM
Sydney Morning Herald
March 5, 2013
John Bingham
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, formerly the most senior Catholic cleric in Britain, has signalled that he did make homosexual advances towards young priests.
He confessed that his ”sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected” and asked for forgiveness from those he had ”offended”, as well as the Catholic Church and people of Scotland.
The former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – who a week ago had been due to take part in the election of the next pope – said he would withdraw from public life.
Fresh details have emerged of the allegations of ”inappropriate” behaviour against him by four men – three priests and one former priest. The accusations included attempting to touch, kiss or have sex with them. One of the accusers also claimed he had been warned not to let the allegations become public or risk ”immense damage” to the church.
”This is not about a gay culture or a straight culture,” the The Observer quoted the man as saying. ”It’s about an open culture. I would be happy to see an openly gay bishop, cardinal or pope. But the church acts as if sexual identity has to be kept secret.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.