MALTA/SCOTLAND
Malta Independent
The Vatican has appointed Bishop Charles Scicluna to take testimony of clergy alleging sexual misconduct in Scotland’s archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, where Cardinal Keith O’Brien was archbishop until resigning under disgrace in February 2013, The National Catholic Reporter reports.
The archdiocese’s current leader, Archbishop Leo Cushley, announced the investigation in two letters sent to his clergy Tuesday.
The letters, which were obtained by NCR Thursday from a priest of the archdiocese, announce what may be the first instance of an investigation by the Vatican of sexual misconduct by one of the church’s cardinals, who are normally considered nearly above reproach in the Vatican’s hierarchical structure.
O’Brien, who had served as the archbishop of Edinburgh since 1985, resigned abruptly just days before Pope Benedict XVI abdicated in February 2013, following allegations by three priests and one former priest of the Scottish archdiocese that the cardinal had inappropriate sexual relations with them dating back some 30 years.
Mgr Scicluna, Cushley states, will visit the archdiocese April 8-10 and “will be available to listen” on those days. The Maltese bishop, Cushley writes, has also asked those who wish to speak with him to “prepare their narrative in writing.”
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