seemslikeadream wrote:The Catholic Church should be paying me!
Get in line as that seems to be the general idea. All you need now is an attorney and a little imagination.
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by lupercal » Sun Feb 17, 2013 3:07 pm
seemslikeadream wrote:The Catholic Church should be paying me!
by seemslikeadream » Sun Feb 17, 2013 3:11 pm
lupercal wrote:seemslikeadream wrote:The Catholic Church should be paying me!
Get in line as that seems to be the general idea. All you need now is an attorney and a little imagination.
by seemslikeadream » Sun Feb 17, 2013 6:54 pm
Pope will have security, immunity by remaining in the Vatican
German appointed to head scandal-hit Vatican bank
Fri, Feb 15 2013
UPDATE 3-German appointed to head scandal-hit Vatican bank
Fri, Feb 15 2013
Benedict says to be "hidden from world" after papacy
Thu, Feb 14 2013
Ovation for Pope Benedict at final public mass
Wed, Feb 13 2013
Discreet papal campaign began before pope shock
Wed, Feb 13 2013
Analysis & Opinion
An African pope would be quite some miracle: Ghana Catholic archbishop
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY | Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:59pm EST
(Reuters) - Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.
"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn't have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else," said one Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"It is absolutely necessary" that he stays in the Vatican, said the source, adding that Benedict should have a "dignified existence" in his remaining years.
Vatican sources said officials had three main considerations in deciding that Benedict should live in a convent in the Vatican after he resigns on February 28.
Vatican police, who already know the pope and his habits, will be able to guarantee his privacy and security and not have to entrust it to a foreign police force, which would be necessary if he moved to another country.
"I see a big problem if he would go anywhere else. I'm thinking in terms of his personal security, his safety. We don't have a secret service that can devote huge resources (like they do) to ex-presidents," the official said.
Another consideration was that if the pope did move permanently to another country, living in seclusion in a monastery in his native Germany, for example, the location might become a place of pilgrimage.
POTENTIAL EXPOSURE
This could be complicated for the Church, particularly in the unlikely event that the next pope makes decisions that may displease conservatives, who could then go to Benedict's place of residence to pay tribute to him.
"That would be very problematic," another Vatican official said.
The final key consideration is the pope's potential exposure to legal claims over the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals.
In 2010, for example, Benedict was named as a defendant in a law suit alleging that he failed to take action as a cardinal in 1995 when he was allegedly told about a priest who had abused boys at a U.S. school for the deaf decades earlier. The lawyers withdrew the case last year and the Vatican said it was a major victory that proved the pope could not be held liable for the actions of abusive priests.
Benedict is currently not named specifically in any other case. The Vatican does not expect any more but is not ruling out the possibility.
"(If he lived anywhere else) then we might have those crazies who are filing lawsuits, or some magistrate might arrest him like other (former) heads of state have been for alleged acts while he was head of state," one source said.
Another official said: "While this was not the main consideration, it certainly is a corollary, a natural result."
After he resigns, Benedict will no longer be the sovereign monarch of the State of Vatican City, which is surrounded by Rome, but will retain Vatican citizenship and residency.
LATERAN PACTS
That would continue to provide him immunity under the provisions of the Lateran Pacts while he is in the Vatican and even if he makes jaunts into Italy as a Vatican citizen.
The 1929 Lateran Pacts between Italy and the Holy See, which established Vatican City as a sovereign state, said Vatican City would be "invariably and in every event considered as neutral and inviolable territory".
There have been repeated calls for Benedict's arrest over sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
When Benedict went to Britain in 2010, British author and atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins asked authorities to arrest the pope to face questions over the Church's child abuse scandal.
Dawkins and the late British-American journalist Christopher Hitchens commissioned lawyers to explore ways of taking legal action against the pope. Their efforts came to nothing because the pope was a head of state and so enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
In 2011, victims of sexual abuse by the clergy asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the pope and three Vatican officials over sexual abuse.
The New York-based rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and another group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), filed a complaint with the ICC alleging that Vatican officials committed crimes against humanity because they tolerated and enabled sex crimes.
The ICC has not taken up the case but has never said why. It generally does not comment on why it does not take up cases.
NOT LIKE A CEO
The Vatican has consistently said that a pope cannot be held accountable for cases of abuse committed by others because priests are employees of individual dioceses around the world and not direct employees of the Vatican. It says the head of the church cannot be compared to the CEO of a company.
Victims groups have said Benedict, particularly in his previous job at the head of the Vatican's doctrinal department, turned a blind eye to the overall policies of local Churches, which moved abusers from parish to parish instead of defrocking them and handing them over to authorities.
The Vatican has denied this. The pope has apologized for abuse in the Church, has met with abuse victims on many of his trips, and ordered a major investigation into abuse in Ireland.
But groups representing some of the victims say the Pope will leave office with a stain on his legacy because he was in positions of power in the Vatican for more than three decades, first as a cardinal and then as pope, and should have done more.
The scandals began years before the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005 but the issue has overshadowed his papacy from the beginning, as more and more cases came to light in dioceses across the world.
As recently as last month, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, was stripped by his successor of all public and administrative duties after a thousands of pages of files detailing abuse in the 1980s were made public.
Mahony, who was archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 until 2011, has apologized for "mistakes" he made as archbishop, saying he had not been equipped to deal with the problem of sexual misconduct involving children. The pope was not named in that case.
In 2007, the Los Angeles archdiocese, which serves 4 million Catholics, reached a $660 million civil settlement with more than 500 victims of child molestation, the biggest agreement of its kind in the United States.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope "gave the fight against sexual abuse a new impulse, ensuring that new rules were put in place to prevent future abuse and to listen to victims. That was a great merit of his papacy and for that we will be grateful".
by Col. Quisp » Sun Feb 17, 2013 7:07 pm
Oscar-winning documentarist Alex Gibney's new film is a conspiracy thriller far more exciting and sinister than Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, which it closely resembles, and all the better for being true. The conspiracy is the Roman Catholic church's closing of ranks for 1,700 years to cover up the way priests have used their positions of sacred trust to assault young boys placed in their charge. It begins and ends in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Father Lawrence Murphy spent years abusing schoolboys as head of the St John's School for the Deaf and was never brought to book. In between, Gibney and his production team look into the notorious Irish case of Tony Walsh, "Singing Priest", Presley impersonator and serial abuser of both sexes, and the way the Vatican concealed the crimes of the outrageous Father Marcial Maciel, a senior associate of Pope John Paul II, before sending him to live out the rest of his life in a Florida mansion. It's a lucid film everyone should see and the Vatican should answer for. It doesn't, however, touch on the associated issues of priestly celibacy and birth control.
by seemslikeadream » Sun Feb 17, 2013 8:05 pm
Cardinal Mahony ‘Forgives’ Those Angry With Him Over Child Sex Abuse Scandal
Posted on Feb 17, 2013
AP/Reed Saxon
Cardinal Roger Mahony still doesn’t get it. In a blog post Thursday mostly focused on himself and his feelings, the disgraced former archbishop of Los Angeles who was deeply implicated in the cover-up of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church wrote that he has “experienced many examples of being humiliated” amid the scandal. Still, despite feeling sorry for himself, Mahony notes that he’s ready to forgive those who are angry at him over his role in concealing the rape of children.
From his blog:
Given all of the storms that have surrounded me and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles recently, God’s grace finally helped me to understand: I am not being called to serve Jesus in humility. Rather, I am being called to something deeper—to be humiliated, disgraced, and rebuffed by many.
I was not ready for this challenge. Ash Wednesday changed all of that, and I see Lent 2013 as a special time to reflect deeply upon this special call by Jesus.
To be honest with you, I have not reached the point where I can actually pray for more humiliation. I’m only at the stage of asking for the grace to endure the level of humiliation at the moment.
In the past several days, I have experienced many examples of being humiliated. In recent days, I have been confronted in various places by very unhappy people. I could understand the depth of their anger and outrage—at me, at the Church, at about injustices that swirl around us.
Thanks to God’s special grace, I simply stood there, asking God to bless and forgive them.
Read more
The level of narcissism and insensitivity displayed by the pedophile enabler shows just how far removed he is from reality.
As Andrew Sullivan summed it up: “He is forgiving the victims of child-rape, and those who speak up for them? Words fail. Anger overwhelms me.”
by seemslikeadream » Thu Feb 21, 2013 11:34 pm
Pope Benedict retired after inquiry into 'Vatican gay officials', says paper
Pope's staff decline to confirm or deny La Repubblica claims linking 'Vatileaks' affair and discovery of 'blackmailed gay clergy'
John Hooper in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 February 2013 12.27 EST
The Vatican is awhirl with rumours about the pope's decision to retire. Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images
A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, some of whom – the report said – were being blackmailed by outsiders.
The pope's spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report, which was carried by the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.
The paper said the pope had taken the decision on 17 December that he was going to resign – the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called "Vatileaks" affair.
Last May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with having stolen and leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting.
According to La Repubblica, the dossier comprising "two volumes of almost 300 pages – bound in red" had been consigned to a safe in the papal apartments and would be delivered to the pope's successor upon his election.
The newspaper said the cardinals described a number of factions, including one whose members were "united by sexual orientation".
In an apparent quotation from the report, La Repubblica said some Vatican officials had been subject to "external influence" from laymen with whom they had links of a "worldly nature". The paper said this was a clear reference to blackmail.
It quoted a source "very close to those who wrote [the cardinal's report]" as saying: "Everything revolves around the non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments."
The seventh enjoins against theft. The sixth forbids adultery, but is linked in Catholic doctrine to the proscribing of homosexual acts.
La Repubblica said the cardinals' report identified a series of meeting places in and around Rome. They included a villa outside the Italian capital, a sauna in a Rome suburb, a beauty parlour in the centre, and a former university residence that was in use by a provincial Italian archbishop.
Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said: "Neither the cardinals' commission nor I will make comments to confirm or deny the things that are said about this matter. Let each one assume his or her own responsibilities. We shall not be following up on the observations that are made about this."
He added that interpretations of the report were creating "a tension that is the opposite of what the pope and the church want" in the approach to the conclave of cardinals that will elect Benedict's successor. Another Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, alluded to the dossier soon after the pope announced his resignation on 11 February, describing its contents as "disturbing".
The three-man commission of inquiry into the Vatileaks affair was headed by a Spanish cardinal, Julián Herranz. He was assisted by Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo, and the Slovak cardinal Jozef Tomko, who once headed the Vatican's department for missionaries.
Pope Benedict has said he will stand down at the end of this month; the first pope to resign voluntarily since Celestine V more than seven centuries ago. Since announcing his departure he has twice apparently referred to machinations inside the Vatican, saying that divisions "mar the face of the church", and warned against "the temptations of power".
La Repubblica's report was the latest in a string of claims that a gay network exists in the Vatican. In 2007 a senior official was suspended from the congregation, or department, for the priesthood, after he was filmed in a "sting" organised by an Italian television programme while apparently making sexual overtures to a younger man.
In 2010 a chorister was dismissed for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting. A few months later a weekly news magazine used hidden cameras to record priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex.
The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals. But it teaches that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered". Pope Benedict has barred sexually active gay men from studying for the priesthood.
Report into Vatican pushed pope to resign
PADDY AGNEW
The pre-conclave climate in Rome touched fever point yesterday following sensational Italian media claims that Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation was at least partly prompted by the “inappropriate influence” of various lobbies, including a gay lobby, in internal Holy See affairs.
Weekly news magazine Panorama and Rome newspaper La Repubblica claimed that the pope had been bitterly dismayed on December 17th last year by an internal report into the so-called “Vatileaks” scandal. The report, commissioned by the pontiff last April and prepared by Cardinals Julián Herranz, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi, apparently confirmed the widespread media portrayal of a Holy See riven with rivalries and careerism.
Furthermore, the cardinals’ report claimed that various lobbies within the Holy See were consistently breaking the sixth and seventh commandments, namely “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not commit adultery”. The “stealing” was in particular related to the Vatican Bank, IOR, while the sexual offences were related to the influence of an active gay lobby within the Vatican.
The cardinals’ 300-page report represented the last straw for the pope, hardening his long-meditated intention to resign, according to the media. The Vatileaks scandal itself culminated with the arrest and subsequent conviction last year of the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, who was found guilty of having stolen confidential documents from the papal apartment.
La Repubblica also claims that the report speaks of inappropriate influence on the part of various lobbies, some of them of a “worldly nature”, reflecting an “outside influence”. It reminded readers about Angelo Balducci, who was accused three years ago of being a member of a gay ring, active within the Vatican and involving choristers and seminarians.
Lawyers Question New York Cardinal in Milwaukee Suits
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: February 20, 2013 148 Comments
A week before Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan is set to leave New York for Rome, where his name is being floated as a candidate for pope, he was questioned in Manhattan for three hours on Wednesday behind closed doors in a legal deposition concerning the sexual abuse of children by priests.
The lawyers deposing Cardinal Dolan represent hundreds of people who say they were sexually molested by priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which he led for seven years before his appointment as archbishop of New York in 2009. The lawyers want to know when Cardinal Dolan, as archbishop of Milwaukee, learned of allegations against certain priests, and how quickly he made those allegations public.
Cardinal Dolan is one of two American cardinals who are being deposed in sexual abuse lawsuits this week, and who plan to travel to Rome next week in advance of the proceedings to elect the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who announced last week that he was resigning Feb. 28.
The other American is Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles. He is expected to be deposed on Saturday in Los Angeles, and he has been under fire since the court-ordered release last month of 12,000 pages of internal church files revealing his role in shielding accused priests from the law.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, said that Cardinal Dolan had cooperated fully with the deposition.
“Today Cardinal Dolan had the long-awaited opportunity to talk about his decision nine years ago in Milwaukee to publicize the names of priests who had abused children and how he responded to the tragedy of past clergy sexual abuse of minors, during the time he was privileged to serve as Archbishop of Milwaukee,” Mr. Zwilling said in a statement. “He has indicated over the past two years that he was eager to cooperate in whatever way he could, and he was looking forward to talking about the good work and progress that took place to ensure the protection of children and pastoral outreach to victims.”
Cardinal Dolan has been much discussed as a possible candidate for pope. The cardinal, who is the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is a charismatic figure at ease in parishes as well as in morning talk show studios, and he left a strong impression in the Vatican last year with speeches promoting what the church calls the “new evangelization.”
But in New York, he has been dogged by the legal cases in Milwaukee. His successor, Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki, had the archdiocese declare bankruptcy in 2011, saying that it would be the best way to compensate all the victims and for the church to move forward. Milwaukee was the eighth Catholic diocese in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection because of abuse lawsuits.
In the Milwaukee Archdiocese, 575 people have filed claims saying that they were abused, over many decades, by Catholic clergymen. About 70 said they were victims of the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who, church records show, admitted having molested deaf students at a boarding school outside Milwaukee, said Jeff Anderson, a lawyer in St. Paul who represents 350 of the 575 plaintiffs.
Bankruptcy negotiations fell apart last year when the archdiocese argued that many of the 575 cases were invalid. Frank LoCocco, the lawyer for the Milwaukee Archdiocese and Cardinal Dolan, said the cases were beyond Wisconsin’s statute of limitations, or the plaintiffs had already received settlements, or the accused were not employed by the archdiocese.
Lawyers for the victims argue that previous archbishops, including Cardinal Dolan, intentionally stalled and kept allegations quiet so that the cases would fall beyond the statute.
Mr. Anderson, who questioned Cardinal Dolan on Wednesday, said he had already deposed a former Milwaukee archbishop, Rembert G. Weakland, and Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Sklba.
“The deposition of Cardinal Dolan is necessary to show that there’s been a longstanding pattern and practice to keep secrets and keep the survivors from knowing that there had been a fraud committed,” Mr. Anderson said.
The Milwaukee Archdiocese said recently that it had spent $9 million in legal fees. Creditors accuse the archdiocese, under Archbishop Dolan, of shielding $55 million in a cemetery trust. The archdiocese argued that those assets had been set aside for Catholic burials by Archbishop Dolan’s predecessors.
by seemslikeadream » Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:48 pm
Vatican should act on gay sex claims: Pell
BY:TESS LIVINGSTONE From: The Australian February 23, 2013 12:00AM
I
Cardinal George Pell at his last mass this week at St Vincent's Church in Ashfield, Sydney, before flying to Rome. Picture: Sam Mooy Source: The Australian
AUSTRALIA'S Cardinal George Pell yesterday called on the Vatican press office to respond "in some constructive way" to reports of an internal investigation by three senior cardinals that told Pope Benedict XVI about an insidious web of blackmail, corruption and homosexual sex inside the Vatican.
Italy's La Repubblica newspaper linked Benedict's resignation with a top secret 300-page dossier prepared by Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, Slovak Cardinal Jozef Tomko and Italian Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi into the "Vatileaks" affair, which saw the Pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, arrested and jailed for stealing and leaking papal documents.
None of the three cardinals will take part in the conclave because they are over 80 years of age, but they are expected to brief those voting about their findings.
According to La Repubblica, the report was "an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish" inside the Holy See, with the cardinals finding that one faction of Vatican officials, "united by sexual orientation", had been subject to "external influence" from laymen with whom they had links of a "worldly nature", which the paper said was a reference to blackmail.
It quoted a source close to the cardinals as saying that everything centred on "non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments", which forbid adultery (included homosexual sex) and stealing. The report also mentioned numerous venues in and around Rome where clandestine encounters took place, including a sauna, a beauty parlour and a university residence.
Speaking just before he flew to Rome for the conclave that will elect Benedict's successor, Cardinal Pell, who read the full article, said: "I know nothing of the content of the report but whatever it contains it is clear that significant reforms are needed within the Vatican bureaucracy."
He praised Benedict for his "courage for commissioning such a report".
The cardinal said it remained to be seen how much of La Repubblica's report was accurate or whether it went beyond recycling material already on the public record. But it was important, he said, that the Vatican press office responded "as I'm sure it will given recent reforms".
But Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi pulled down the shutters yesterday. He said: "Don't expect comments or rebuttals of what is being said on this issue."
Cardinal Herranz, who chaired the commission, confirmed: "The Pope is the only person we have reported to on this question."
The report was handed to the Pope on December 17 last year and has been locked in a Vatican safe, awaiting Benedict's successor.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Weekend Australian, Cardinal Pell said the 24-hour news cycle had became a game-changer for the Pope and the church, just as it had for domestic and international politics.
As cardinals head to Rome for a series of meetings ahead of the conclave, controversy surrounds the attendance of retired Los Angeles cardinal Roger Mahony. Cardinal Mahony was stood down from all church duties earlier this month by his successor over his mishandling of sexual abuse complaints.
Tomorrow, Benedict will greet the crowd that will gather in St Peter's Square for the final Angelus address of his pontificate. More than 30,000 have applied for tickets for his General Audience in the square on Wednesday.
by justdrew » Fri Feb 22, 2013 11:16 pm
by justdrew » Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:01 am
by undead » Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:24 pm
by Nordic » Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:02 am
by Hammer of Los » Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:52 am
I was very interested to learn that the two deaf men who began the effort to expose the rapist priest in Milwaukee had the inspiration to do so when they first started smoking cannabis, because they received "revelations".
by seemslikeadream » Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:06 pm
Pope considering response to alleged 'inappropriate acts' by UK cardinal
Vatican confirms priests' written allegations against Cardinal Keith O'Brien have been received and issue is in pontiff's hands
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 24 February 2013 10.24 EST
The Vatican has confirmed Pope Benedict is considering a response to allegations of 'inappropriate acts' by the UK's most senior Roman Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien (above). Photograph: Angus Blackburn/Rex Features
The pope has been told about allegations that the UK's most senior Catholic had been accused of "inappropriate acts" against fellow priests, and is considering how to respond.
Hours after the allegations were published by the Observer, the Vatican confirmed that written allegations against Cardinal Keith O'Brien by three serving priests and one former priest were being studied by Pope Benedict XVI.
As the pope gave his last pontifical blessing to crowds in St Peter's Square, a spokesman for the Vatican said "the pope is informed about the problem and the issue is now in his hands".
Cardinal O'Brien, the UK's most senior Roman Catholic and head of the Scottish Catholic church, missed giving mass at his cathedral on Sunday, citing legal advice. He contests the allegations, which date back 30 years to the 1980s, when O'Brien was a rector of a seminary in Aberdeen and then archbishop.
The cardinal, who is himself to retire in mid-March after taking part in the conclave at the Vatican next month to choose the new pope, had been due to hold mass at St Mary's cathedral in Edinburgh to celebrate Pope Benedict XVI's eight years as pontiff.
The pope is due to stand down on 28 February, after becoming the first to resign in post for more than 600 years.
Bishop Stephen Robson, who is auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, the cardinal's diocese, told the congregation: "A number of allegations of inappropriate behaviour have been made against the cardinal. The cardinal has sought legal advice and it would be inappropriate to comment at this time. There will be further statements in due course.
"As always in times of need such as this we cannot not but be saddened by the events of the last 24 hours. It is to the Lord that we turn to now in times of need."
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the former archbishop of Westminster, who will be travelling to the Vatican to advise cardinals voting for the next pope, said he was "very sad" to hear about the allegations against the cardinal.
Speaking on BBC1's Andrew Marr programme, Murphy-O'Connor said: "There have been other cases which have been a great scandal to the church over these past years. I think the church has to face up – has faced up – to some of them very well indeed. I don't know what the church will do. I think Cardinal O'Brien is very near to retirement and I suspect that his resignation, which is already with the pope, because he's nearing 75 and every bishop has to retire – then presumably that will be accepted."
Murphy-O'Connor said it was up to O'Brien to decide whether he would travel to the Vatican for the conclave. "That is up to Cardinal O'Brien to decide … it will be up to him, and I think rightly so," he said. "The allegations have not been proved in any way, so he will have to decide whether he wants to go."
O'Brien, who will be the only British representative at the conclave, has been a vigorous and outspoken critic of gay rights, denouncing plans for the legalisation of gay marriage as "harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of those involved".
He was named as "bigot of the year" in 2012 by the gay rights group Stonewall. But in an interview on the BBC broadcast on Friday, O'Brien said he believed Catholic priests ought to be able to marry and have children, claiming many priests found it "very difficult to cope" with celibacy.
The cardinal, who will be 75 on St Patrick's Day, 17 March, and is expected to retire from all his duties, has already stood down from his role as formal head of the Scottish Catholic bishops conference because of his age and infirmity.
The four complainants, from the diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, have contacted nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican's ambassador to Britain, and demanded O'Brien's immediate resignation. A spokesman for the cardinal said the claims were contested.
One of the men, it is understood, alleges that the cardinal developed an inappropriate relationship with him, resulting in a need for long-term psychological counselling.
The four submitted statements containing their claims to the nuncio's office the week before Pope Benedict's resignation on 11 February. They fear that, if O'Brien travels to the forthcoming papal conclave to elect a new pope, the church will not fully address their complaints.
"It tends to cover up and protect the system at all costs," said one of the complainants. "The church is beautiful, but it has a dark side and that has to do with accountability. If the system is to be improved, maybe it needs to be dismantled a bit."
The revelation of the priests' complaints will be met with consternation in the Vatican. Allegations of sexual abuse by members of the church have dogged the papacy of Benedict XVI, who is to step down as pope at the end of this month. Following the announcement, there has been speculation in Rome that Benedict's shock move may be connected to further scandals to come.
The four priests asked a senior figure in the diocese to act as their representative to the nuncio's office. Through this representative, the nuncio replied, in emails seen by the Observer, that he appreciated their courage.
It is understood that the first allegation against the cardinal dates back to 1980. The complainant, who is now married, was then a 20-year-old seminarian at St Andrew's College, Drygrange, where O'Brien was his "spiritual director". The Observer understands that the statement claims O'Brien made an inappropriate approach after night prayers.
The seminarian said he was too frightened to report the incident, but his personality changed afterwards, and his teachers regularly noted that he seemed depressed. He was ordained, but he told the nuncio in his statement that he resigned when O'Brien was promoted to bishop. "I knew then he would always have power over me. It was assumed I left the priesthood to get married. I did not. I left to preserve my integrity."
In a second statement, "Priest A" described being happily settled in a parish when he claims he was visited by O'Brien and inappropriate contact between the two took place.
In a third statement, "Priest B" claimed he was starting his ministry in the 1980s when he was invited to spend a week "getting to know" O'Brien at the archbishop's residence. His statement alleges that he found himself dealing with what he describes as unwanted behaviour by the cardinal after a late-night drinking session.
"Priest C" was a young priest the cardinal was counselling over personal problems. His statement claims O'Brien used night prayers as an excuse for inappropriate contact.
The cardinal maintained contact with Priest C over a period of time, and the statement to the nuncio's office alleges that he engineered at least one other intimate situation. O'Brien is, says Priest C, very charismatic, and being sought out by the superior who was supposed to be guiding him was both troubling and flattering.
Those involved believe the cardinal abused his position. "You have to understand," explained the ex-priest complainant, "the relationship between a bishop and a priest. At your ordination, you take a vow to be obedient to him.
"He's more than your boss, more than the CEO of your company. He has immense power over you. He can move you, freeze you out, bring you into the fold … he controls every aspect of your life. You can't just kick him in the balls."
All four have been reluctant to raise their concerns. They are, though, concerned that the church will ignore their complaints, and want the conclave electing the new pope to be "clean". According to canon law, no cardinal who is eligible to vote can be prevented from doing so.
by seemslikeadream » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:42 am
As it happened: Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigns
Key Points
Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, resigns as leader of the Scottish Catholic Church
It comes after newspaper reports that three priests and one ex-priest had complained about inappropriate behaviour towards them in the '80s
The Scottish Catholic Church says the cardinal, who is 74 and was due to retire in a few weeks, contests the claims and is taking legal advice
Reporters: Pauline McKenna, Claire Heald and Steve Brocklehurst
1100:BREAKING NEWS Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, is stepping down as the head of the Scottish Catholic Church.
1101: Cardinal O'Brien's decision follows allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards priests dating back to the 1980s. He contests the claims and is seeking legal action.
1102: The Vatican is expected shortly to confirm that Pope Benedict has accepted Cardinal O'Brien's decision.
Cardinal O'Brien is the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
1103: The cardinal is not now expected to travel to Rome to take part in the election for a successor to the Pope - leaving Britain unrepresented in the election.
by crikkett » Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:12 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21572724The Vatican confirmed the cardinal has stepped down from his post.
The Scottish Catholic Media Office said Pope Benedict had accepted the cardinal's resignation on 18 February, but the announcement of it has only just been made.
Cardinal O'Brien said in his statement he had already tendered his resignation as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, due to take effect when he turned 75 next month, but Pope Benedict "has now decided that my resignation will take effect today".
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