SCOTLAND
The Observer
Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 22 June 2013
The Vatican has finally acceded to demands for a formal inquiry into Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned from the diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February following allegations of sexual misconduct.
An apostolic visitation, a high-level inspection in which the “visitator” is given authority directly by the pope, will take place in the diocese, which has been accused of having had a “gay mafia” during the cardinal’s tenure.
News of the apostolic visitation came via the papal nuncio, Antonio Mennini, in a meeting with one of the complainants, a former priest known as “Lenny” who accused the cardinal of making sexual advances to him when he was a seminarian. “The archbishop told me the holy see had decided there would be an investigation into all of the allegations. Anyone affected would be able to give evidence. If it is judged that there is sufficient evidence, then it would go to another, deeper process in Rome,” said Lenny.
Lenny expressed relief that the facts would finally be examined.
“I am glad the Catholic church has faced up to the need for a process to determine the truth,” he said. “If this story had not gone public in the Observer in February, if there had not been consistent calls for action, we would not have got to this point. But it’s now important to scrutinise the scope and remit of the visitation.
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