Vatican accused of cover up over Cardinal Keith O'Brien's 'sexual conduct'

March 04, 2013

Revelations that the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in Britain had a secret sex life cast a shadow over the first day of a meeting of the Church's cardinals as they gathered to choose a successor to Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus.

The 142 "princes of the church" met in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican to discuss the Church's problems and the sort of qualities required of the new pope to deal with them.

But officials in Rome and the Vatican's representative to Britain flatly refused to discuss how long Benedict XVI had known about the accusations against Cardinal O'Brien or how many accusers there are.

After denying that he had made sexual advances to four men – three priests and one former priest – Cardinal O'Brien issued a statement on Sunday confessing that his "sexual conduct" had fallen far below the standard expected.

It came a week after he stepped down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh and announced that he would stay away from the con...

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Showing 3 comments

Tom Sadloskos commented 2013-03-07 04:17:13 -0600
Georgetown is a Catholic University. I can just imagine what they have to say on the subject!
Joh Placette commented 2013-03-06 07:00:58 -0600
Anyone really interested in the truth of what is happening in the United States in the Roman Catholic Church should read the Georgetown University CARA publication: Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People published in April 2012.
Enough said.
Tom Sadloskos commented 2013-03-05 07:18:47 -0600
The Catholic Church is going to continue to deal with the problems it faces the same way it always has. Publically they are going to say, “we need to be more open, honest and helpful” privately, the Vatican will instruct Bishops and Cardinals all over the world, to cover things up and keep it quiet. The new Pope, whoever he will be, I guarantee you the first thing that will spill out of his mouth is “there will be no chances in church policies or doctorines”.This has been going on for years now, and will never change.They do not care, and I as a Catholic cannot care about them, I do nto want acceptance by the church, or anything to do with them. With the numbers they have driven away, and continue to drive away, I cannot believe there are still a billion Catholics in the world, there will always be those who cling to it, sticking their heads in the sand and pretending everything is fine, its always easier for some to do that, rather than face the problems head on, and try to make positive chances. Unfortunatley the Catholic Church has proven it does want positive changes, but wants things to remain exactly the same. We do not want that, and the only solution for us is to reject this organization.

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