VATICAN CITY (AP) — Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, recused himself on Monday from taking part in the conclave to elect the next pope after being accused of improper conduct with priests — an unprecedented first head to roll in the mudslinging that has followed Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign.
O'Brien also resigned as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, though the Vatican insisted that Benedict accepted his resignation purely because he was nearing the retirement age of 75 — not because of the accusations. But O'Brien himself issued a statement Monday saying he would skip the conclave because he didn’t want to become the focus of media attention at such a delicate time for the Catholic Church.
Comments
This comment has been removed.
And the beat goes on and on and on. And it won't stop until priests are no longer required to be celibate.
Better still, require priests to marry, and ordain both. That way every parish is guaranteed two.
One down. Mahoney to go. Please elect a Pope who tried to blow the whistle on the abusers. That would be a relief.
Vatican = Rat's nest.
This comment has been removed.
I am most surprised at the Globe's seeminging tact in this on-going coverage of the change in papal leadership. With all the broughaha a few years ago over Cardinal Law and his involvement in dealing with Boston Archidiocese priests charged with sexual offenses, one might think that Law's involvement in the upcoming Enclave might be within the Globe's nasty editorial sites. But no such storeis are noted. Is this a good thing based on something the Globe might explain sometime? Did the Globe discover that offenses charged to Law were questionable or inacurrate or that he is just too far away in Rome for a Boston-based, regional newpaper would have little or no influence on participation in the Enclave by a Cardinal long gone? Nope - never had any involvement in the cases Law or the many allegedly offending Catholic priests were charged with; rather, just wonder about the seemingly incomplete coverage of a long-running story that the Globe made such a major deal of.
This comment has been removed.