Cardinal Admits Sex Claims
By John Bingham
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, formerly the most senior Catholic cleric in Britain, has signalled that he did make homosexual advances towards young priests. He confessed that his ''sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected'' and asked for forgiveness from those he had ''offended'', as well as the Catholic Church and people of Scotland. The former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh - who a week ago had been due to take part in the election of the next pope - said he would withdraw from public life. Fresh details have emerged of the allegations of ''inappropriate'' behaviour against him by four men - three priests and one former priest. The accusations included attempting to touch, kiss or have sex with them. One of the accusers also claimed he had been warned not to let the allegations become public or risk ''immense damage'' to the church. Advertisement ''This is not about a gay culture or a straight culture,'' the The Observer quoted the man as saying. ''It's about an open culture. I would be happy to see an openly gay bishop, cardinal or pope. But the church acts as if sexual identity has to be kept secret.'' The admission will have a devastating effect on the church's attempt to get its message across. Cardinal O'Brien was the most high-profile and outspoken opponent of gay marriage in Britain, condemning it as a ''grotesque subversion''. He warned that the plans would open the way to ''further aberrations''. On Sunday night, BBC presenter Evan Davis, who is gay, suggested on Twitter the cardinal's rhetoric might have been a way of suppressing his own ''torment''. In one of his last acts in office, Pope Benedict effectively sacked Cardinal O'Brien last week, 24 hours after the allegations of ''inappropriate conduct'' appeared in The Observer. The allegations date to the 1980s. Although the cardinal had already tendered his resignation, the Pope made clear it was to take immediate effect. The cardinal also withdrew from the conclave meeting this month to elect Benedict's successor, in what Vatican historians said was an unprecedented move. In a short statement issued by the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal O'Brien said: ''In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them. However, 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. To those I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness.''
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