top of page

The Blog

Click on titles below to read the entire post, access the archive, and make comments.

Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who had contested accusations of sexual impropriety in February, today acknowledged that “there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me.”

O’Brien decided not to attend the March conclave after a newspaper reported that three priests and one former priest had accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior when he was a seminary rector in the 1980s.

Here is the statement issued today by Cardinal O’Brien:

“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.

To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologise.

I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland.”

John Thavis

My Italian colleague Gianfranco Brunelli, who directs the excellent Italian Catholic magazine Il Regno, suggested in an interview yesterday that cardinal electors should take advantage of a little-known clause in canon law and consider electing a non-cardinal in the coming conclave.

It’s a suggestion that has circulated quietly in Rome since Benedict XVI announced his retirement. Most observers discount the idea, but technically it’s a possibility.

Church law says a person elected to the papacy should either be a bishop or must be immediately ordained a bishop. Canon lawyers debate how wide a field that wording creates, but it’s clear that the next pope doesn’t have to be a cardinal.

Nor does he have to be under the age of 80 – which is a requirement to vote in the conclave.

Brunelli said the cardinals should, in fact, consider choosing a bishop as pope. He says it would be “an act of freedom, strength and courage” in the wake of the ex-pope’s courageous decision to resign. The cardinals would not be saying there aren’t enough good candidates in the room, but recognizing “the experiences of deep renewal and pastoral energy present in the local churches,” he said.

“It would be a statement that, even today, the Catholic Church has pastoral figures who are prophetic,” Brunelli said.

If would also widen the field of papabili tremendously. The church has more than 5,000 bishops; it has only 117 cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave.

That’s probably the biggest argument against choosing a non-cardinal. Just getting to know their fellow cardinals well enough to make a choice is considered a daunting task for those who will cast votes in the conclave. The idea of an outside candidate would require time to mature – and many of the cardinals seem in a hurry to wrap this up.

The last time a non-cardinal was elected pope was in 1378, when Italian Archbishop Bartolomeo Prignano became Pope Urban VI. In part because of the outside political pressures of that time, his 11-year reign was fairly disastrous, leading to the Great Western Schism.

The roofscape around St. Peter’s Square has been sprouting TV platforms like mushrooms after a rainstorm.

The idea is to give cameras an unimpeded view of the Vatican and, above all, the Sistine Chapel smokestack, to the right of St. Peter’s dome.

The networks learned the last time around that these rooftops and terraces quickly become prime real estate in Rome, so most have had contracts signed well in advance.

Their hosts are often religious orders, which gain much-needed income (enough to pay the utility bills for years, one would guess) but have to put up with hundreds of TV people traipsing through the premises.

One problem for the networks is that a clear view from one rooftop may quite suddenly be obscured by a new TV studio on a nearby building. So far, there have been squabbles but no wars.

Many of these TV sets are perched above sets of steep, winding stairs. The other day I followed a cardinal up to one of these aeries and had to admire his climbing skills.

bottom of page