VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Carol Glatz Catholic News Service | Mar. 20, 2015
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis accepted Scotland Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s decision to renounce all “duties and privileges” associated with being a cardinal.
The former archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, who resigned in 2013 after admitting to sexual misconduct, will no longer exercise the role of a cardinal, including by serving as a papal adviser, a member of Vatican congregations and councils, and as an elector of a new pope, the Vatican press office said.
A written statement from the College of Cardinals, published Friday, said, “The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the rights and privileges of a cardinal expressed in canons 349, 353 and 356 of the Code of Canon Law, presented by his eminence Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, archbishop emeritus of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, after a long period of prayer.”
Passionist Fr. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, told journalists the resignation was “not a punishment resulting from a process” or any formal proceedings against the cardinal, but rather it came from the cardinal himself after a long period of prayer and reflection “in dialogue with the Holy Father.”
While he will no longer be invited to attend consistories and other gatherings of cardinals, including an eventual conclave for the election of a new pope, Benedettini said, he retains his faculties as a priest and retired bishop.
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