March 3, 2013 (TSR-Reuters) – A Roman Catholic cardinal who resigned as head of the church in Scotland apologized on Sunday for sexual conduct which he said had “fallen below the standards expected of me”.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien was Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric until he resigned as archbishop on February 25 and said he would not take part in the conclave to elect a new pope. The announcement followed newspaper allegations of inappropriate behavior with priests.
“I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal,” he said in a statement posted on the Scottish Catholic media office website on Sunday.
“To those I have offended, I apologies and ask forgiveness. To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologies. I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland.”
O’Brien’s resignation as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh was announced a day after the Observer newspaper reported that three priests and one former priest from a Scottish diocese had complained over incidents dating back to the 1980s.
The Observer said O’Brien, an outspoken opponent of moves in Britain to legalize gay marriage, had been reported to the Vatican over the unspecified incidents.
The cardinal initially rejected the allegations and said he was seeking legal advice. He ruled himself out of the conclave to avoid focusing media attention on himself.
Last year, O’Brien’s comments labeling gay marriage “a grotesque subversion” landed him with a “Bigot of the Year” award from gay rights group Stonewall.
O’Brien’s dramatic resignation and self-exclusion from the conclave added to a sense of crisis in the Catholic Church as it deals with the resignation of Pope Benedict against a backdrop of scandals.
O’Brien would have been Britain’s only elector at the conclave. He could have attended despite his resignation as archbishop, but chose not to do so.
Benedict’s papacy, which ended on Thursday when he flew away from the Vatican by helicopter, was rocked by scandals over the sexual abuse of children by priests.
Pope’s statement on Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s resignation
The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has accepted on the 18 February 2013 the resignation of His Eminence Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien from the pastoral governance of the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. This information will be announced and published in the Osservatore Romano of Monday 25 February 2013.
The cardinal had already presented last November his resignation in view of his 75th birthday on 17 March 2013, and it was accepted by the Holy Father with the formula “nunc pro tunc” (now for later). Given the imminent vacant see, the Holy Father has now decided to accept the said resignation definitively.
O’Brien’s Full statement reacting to the acceptance of his resignation
Approaching the age of 75 and at times in indifferent health, I tendered my resignation as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh to Pope Benedict XVI some months ago. I was happy to know that he accepted my resignation “nunc pro tunc” – (now – but to take effect later) on 13 November 2012. The Holy Father has now decided that my resignation will take effect today, 25 February 2013, and that he will appoint an apostolic administrator to govern the archdiocese in my place until my successor as archbishop is appointed. In the meantime I will give every assistance to the apostolic administrator and to our new archbishop, once he is appointed, as I prepare to move into retirement.
I have valued the opportunity of serving the people of Scotland and overseas in various ways since becoming a priest. Looking back over my years of ministry: for any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended.
I thank Pope Benedict XVI for his kindness and courtesy to me and on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Scotland, I wish him a long and happy retirement. I also ask God’s blessing on my brother cardinals who will soon gather in Rome to elect his successor. I will not join them for this conclave in person. I do not wish media attention in Rome to be focused on me – but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and on his successor. However, I will pray with them and for them that, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they will make the correct choice for the future good of the church.
May God who has blessed me so often in my ministry continue to bless and help me in the years which remain for me on Earth and may he shower his blessings on all the peoples of Scotland especially those I was privileged to serve in a special way in the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
