Cardinal Keith O'brien Has Resigned.

[sandyRoe]

Old sins cast long shadows. Could he have done anything else?

[douglas9401]

"There are over a billion Catholics in the world and so it is not surprising that there are a few "bad apples" along the way."

Aye, like some of the Khmer Rouge were only into phrenology.

[needawin]

All the higher Catholic clergy need to be dumped and a new breed brought in. Enough of the hidden abuse, cover ups, fancy robes and Hippocrates.

[anneasquith]

if these allegations are true, and i hope they are not swept under the carpet,i do feel a bit of sympathy for the many priests who may well have acted as they should, some for a lifetime.

[askyourgran]

Wasn't he the father of Medicine?

[anneasquith]

no a footballer

[Sqad]

They (Catholics) consider it the greatest privilege of their lives to participate in the Eucharistic Liturgy each day. The love and gratitude they feel as they experience the living presence of the Lord Jesus and celebrate the great gift of salvation made possible by his life, death, and resurrection is sometimes so intense, they think that they will be overcome by it. They thank the Eternal Father every day for the unparalleled privilege of being a Catholic.

No answer to that then and that is what true Catholics believe and will not be altered by a few hundred perverts, however high up in the Catholic church.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Footballer? No, Anne, that was Socrates.

[gness]

As I said Sqad.....too much power.......growing up in fear of priests and their god takes a lot of shifting.

[anneasquith]

ooft, so it was :) sqad, im not too sure that even the most committed catholic will not possible question the church. if the allegations of a cardinals inappropriate behaviour are proven.

[LazyGun]

@Sqad - No doubt you are right that for some of the faithful at least, those whose faith might be represented by the quotations from individuals you offer, the spate of allegations will represent a source of sorrow but probably not a serious cause to doubt their church/religion.

Of course, when your religion and your faith are so deeply embedded into your lives, it can be difficult to form an objective or critical view.

The fact remains - for decades, certain clergy within the catholic church have abused vast swathes of children, with impunity. When such matters are brought to the attention of the church hierarchy, such allegations have been swept under the carpet, hidden, and the priest in question shuffled off to some other diocese on pain of a few hail marys and a solemn promise. With such conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, the Catholic Church as an institution has become complicit in child abuse.

Lets not even bother looking at the venal attitudes of some representatives of the church, or the vast financial empire they administer, or the links to organised crime.

Attitudes demonstrated by the clergy as in andy and gnesses anecdotes show a lack of interest in what is the primary specification of their job, and builds on this image of a church out of touch and out of tune.

It will certainly do nothing to boost numbers of the the fiathful, i suspect... :)

[Sqad]

Lazygun......you certainly have a way with words ;-) but i just have the feeling that the Catholic Church will survive this "unfortunate hicough."

[brionon]

Allegations ? As James Joyce might have said ''But who's the alligator ?''

[Duncer]

Cardinal O'Brien went missing for a few hours earlier today, causing widespread concern all over the country, but it turns out he never even left Scotland.


He was found in Bishopbriggs.

[LazyGun]

If you want salacious speculation on this issue, take a look at the Mirror front page for tomorrow.....

https://twitter.com/suttonnick/status/306174160902709248/photo/1

[DJHawkes]

apparently he didn;t resign the pope sacked him. Too little too late probably, coincidence eh?

[Hopkirk]

Why do these accusers wait until he is about to retire before coming out with these accusations?

[DJHawkes]

can't help feeling it's a deflection and distraction marty

[LazyGun]

I do not know how accurate it is, but I did hear that those making their allegations timed it specifically - In part to try and cause maximum discomfort given the cardinal conclave for selection of a new pope - and also cos he was, they say, a tyrant and they were afraid he might get some retaliation in.

On the other hand, some priest on Newsnight tonight was saying that, actually, he had effectively been sacked by the Pope, so who knows?

[Hopkirk]

Bleeding cowards.

They should have complained at the time.

[237SJ]

Is the Catholic church any worse than any other institution ( the BBC, the film industry and music industry for example) as far as these shenanigans are concerned? I can`t understand why they are getting all the vitriol when there seems to be systematic abuse in plenty of other organisations.