Scottish archbishop says disgraced predecessor should stay abroad

September 16, 2013

The incoming archbishop of Edinburgh has said that his predecessor should stay out of Scotland for the good of the Church.

Archbishop-elect Leo Cushley, who will be installed in Edinburgh next week, said that Cardinal Keith O’Brien might eventually return to Scotland. But he said that “it would probably be wiser and more helpful for the future of the Church here if he were not to be back in the country.”

Cardinal O’Brien, who resigned in February after charges of homosexual misconduct, has left the country—reportedly with the encouragement of Vatican officials. He is free to return, Msgr. Cushley said. “But the Holy See will be the ones to ask him to do whatever it is they intend,” he said. The archbishop-elect made it plain that his own preference would be for the cardinal to remain abroad.

Archbishop-elect Cushley has said that he intends to press forward with a full investigation of the handling of sex-abuse complaints in the Edinburgh archdiocese.

 

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Further information:

• New archbishop: Cardinal O'Brien 'should not return to Scotland' (STV)
• Monsignor Leo Cushley says Cardinal Keith O'Brien should not return to Scotland (BBC)
• Cardinal O’Brien exile dreadful - Margo MacDonald (Scotsman)
• New Scottish archbishop expected to cooperate with sex-abuse investigation (CWN, 8/30)