SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
Tuesday 20 August 2013
THE leading Catholic cleric announced as the successor to shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien has confirmed he has had meetings with the Pope over the role he inherits next month.
Monsignor Leo Cushley, the Archbishop-elect of St Andrews and Edinburgh, said he held talks last Tuesday with Pope Francis over the situation facing the Archdiocese since Cardinal O’Brien was forced to resign after allegations of abuse and admitting decades of sexual behaviour with other clerics earlier this year.
Mgr Cushley, a Vatican diplomat unveiled as Cardinal O’Brien’s successor last month, had said he had not spoken with the Pontiff about the situation despite working closely with both him and Benedict in Rome.
But the former Diocese of Motherwell parish said of his meeting with Pope Francis: “It was encouraging and very heartening to learn how well the Holy Father knows and appreciates the situation of the Archdiocese and its priests and people.
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