SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
Saturday 5 April 2014
Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter
THE Vatican’s chief sex crimes prosecutor is to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
In an unprecedented move, Bishop Charles Scicluna, who has been investigating clerical abuse for a decade, will be dispatched to Scotland next week to take testimonies from those with information about the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding the Cardinal.
Complaints against other members of the clergy will also be taken on board.
Cardinal O’Brien’s successor Archbishop Leo Cushley said the Maltese bishop would “listen to and report the testimony offered by past and present members of the clergy … concerning any incidents of sexual misconduct committed against them by other members of the clergy whomsoever”.
Cardinal O’Brien stepped down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February 2013 after confessing to sexual behaviour spanning his time as a priest, bishop and cardinal.
In a letter to clergy in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Archbishop Cushley said Bishop Scicluna would visit betweenTuesday and Thursday, adding he had spoken to the Pope and to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, about the matter.
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