LONDON — Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the first cardinal in history to recuse himself from a papal election over a personal scandal, has died, his archdiocese in Scotland said Monday. The men said they had complained to church authorities about O’Brien’s conduct but that the church had failed to respond. He apologized and promised to play no further role in the public life of the Scottish church. A year earlier, Scottish church officials had reported that O’Brien had objected to a national church audit into how church officials had handled sex abuse cases in the Scottish church from 1952-2012. Experts said his decision not to attend the 2013 papal conclave was unprecedented; never before had a cardinal stayed away from a conclave because of personal scandal, according to Vatican historian Ambrogio Piazzoni.

Source: National Post March 19, 2018 09:27 UTC