SCOTLAND
Spectator
Keith O’Brien stripped of the rank of cardinal – an extraordinary disgrace for the Scottish Church
Damian Thompson
Keith O’Brien, former Cardinal Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, was today stripped of the rank of cardinal by Pope Francis. Technically he has resigned. But the statement above leaves us in little doubt that O’Brien has had the red hat forcibly removed from him. He’s the first cardinal to lose his title since Louis Billot, a French Jesuit who resigned as cardinal in 1927 in protest at the Church’s condemnation of the far-Right anti-Semitic Action Française movement. Billot was the only cardinal to resign in the 20th century.
Full marks to the Tablet for setting out the background to this extraordinary move a few days ago (my emphasis):
Following public accusations by a number of priests and one former priest, and following the cardinal’s resignation, the Pope appointed Bishop – now Archbishop – Scicluna, to speak to all those involved and report back to the Vatican.
One of the men who have accused Cardinal O’Brien of inappropriate sexual conduct said that despite Archbishop Scicluna’s report being ‘hot enough to burn the varnish’ off the Pope’s desk, the Church was moving with ‘glacial’ speed when it came to making public its findings.
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