Catherine Deveney, the Observer
journalist who broke the Cardinal Keith O'Brien sexual impropriety
story, told the BBC on Sunday that one priest involved told her that
O'Brien's anti-gay rhetoric compelled him to come forward.
On Sunday, a week after the story broke
and O'Brien announced his resignation as archbishop of Saint Andrews
and Edinburgh, O'Brien issued a statement in which he admitted to
allegations he had previously denied.
“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,” the 74-year-old
O'Brien said.
Deveney reported that three priests and
a former priest had complained to the Vatican about “inappropriate
acts.” The conduct could date back to the 1980s.
“This is a sad situation,” Deveney
said on the BBC. “But I have to point out that the cardinal has
been such a very vociferous critic of homosexuals, of gay adoption,
he's been a very outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage.”
“And one of the priests involved, one
of the complainants involved, said to me tonight after he had
resigned that he felt very sad for the cardinal but he also felt very
sad for the people over the years that the cardinal had harmed. The
young people who had struggled with their homosexuality and were told
by the cardinal that they were degenerate, when clearly that was not
what the cardinal really felt.” (The video is embedded on this
page. Visit
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O'Brien also stated that he would “play
no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in
Scotland.”