Cardinal O'Brien to Leave Scotland for 'Spiritual Renewal and Penance'

By Lizzy Davies
The Guardian
May 15, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/15/cardinal-keith-obrien-scotland

Cardinal Keith O'Brien in May 2012: the 75-year-old will be leaving Scotland for several months, the Vatican announced.

Disgraced former archbishop to leave the country for several months for undisclosed location, announces Vatican

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the disgraced former archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, will leave Scotland for a period of "spiritual renewal, prayer and penance" after he admitted inappropriate sexual conduct with priests, the Vatican has said.

In a statement, the Vatican said the 75-year-old cardinal would be leaving the country for several months, without specifying where he would go.

"His eminence cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien, archbishop emeritus of St Andrews and Edinburgh, for the same reasons he decided not to participate in the last conclave, and in agreement with the Holy Father, will be leaving Scotland for several months for the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer and penance," it said.

Indicating that O'Brien's long-term future would remain firmly in the Vatican's hands, the statement added: "Any decision regarding future arrangements for His Eminence shall be agreed with the Holy See."

Reports earlier this month claimed that O'Brien, who stepped down as head of the Scottish Catholic church in February after the Observer disclosed allegations against him by three priests and one former priest, had been advised by Rome against moving to a house in Dunbar, East Lothian.

The Glasgow Herald reported that the Scottish Catholic leadership had appealed to the pope's envoy to express alarm over O'Brien's re-emergence in Scotland, where the revelations of his behaviour has caused widespread anger.

O'Brien was forced to resign early by emeritus pope Benedict just days before the start of a papal conclave in which, as a cardinal under the age of 80, he should have taken part.