SCOTLAND
Scotsman
By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on 09/06/2013 00:00
THE Vatican may parachute in a Scots diplomat as the new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh with orders to clean up the troubled diocese in the wake of the scandal surrounding Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
Monsignor Leo Cushley, a priest from the Motherwell diocese who is currently working in the Vatican with its secretariat of state, the Vatican’s foreign office, is believed to be at the top of a three-man shortlist to be submitted to Pope Francis for approval.
Other names are understood to be Monsignor Patrick Burke, another Scot in the Vatican who was close to Benedict XVI, and the current Bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert.
However, Cushley is believed to be the favoured candidate on account of his “outsider” status and skills in diplomacy and conflict resolution. He served in troublespots during the civil wars in Burundi and Rwanda in east central Africa.
A source said: “The archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh is in a mess. The Vatican needs someone to clean up the mess and they need someone whom they know and trust implicitly and Leo Cushley fits the bill.”
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