O’Brien report with the Pope

The Church in Scotland has responded to media reports suggesting that the Church is “sitting on” a report on allegations regarding Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh who stood down in 2013 after admitting sexual misconduct, writes Brian Morton.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh said that Pope Francis had “tried his very best to handle the case of Cardinal O’Brien with great justice and compassion” and was now considering the report. “We hope and trust that he will reach a decision that is fair and just to everybody involved,” the spokesman said.

Following accusations by five men, four of them priests, and following the cardinal’s resignation, the Pope appointed Bishop – now Archbishop – Charles Scicluna, to speak to all those involved and report back to the Vatican. The archbishop is the former top prosecutor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. One of the men who has 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 at a “glacial” speed on making public its findings.