Cardinal resigns amid sexual misconduct allegations

LONDON, March 20 (UPI) -- Britain's former most senior Catholic cleric Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned the remainder of his duties and rights after incidents of sexual misconduct.

The resignation means he will not be able to lead mass, perform baptisms, administer communion, last rites or officiate a wedding. He will also not be able to take part in public, religious or civil events and will not be able to ever vote in a papal election. O'brien will be allowed to celebrate mass and receive communion in his own home. He will also retain his title and cardinal headdress.

"I wish to repeat the apology which I made to the Catholic Church and the people of Scotland some two years ago now on 3rd March 2013," O'Brien said after the announcement. "I then said that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me. For that I am deeply sorry. I thank Pope Francis for his fatherly care of me and of those I have offended in any way."

O'Brien was the country's senior cleric until he resigned his position as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in 2013 following allegations of unwanted sexual attention from two priests and a former priest.

O'Brien is the first cardinal to resign since the 1920s. The resignation is praised by some as a sign of the commitment from Pope Francis to clean house but still criticized as being too slow and too small of a step by others.

"Clear and firm Vatican action against complicit bishops would be new. And it would help prevent future cover ups and crimes. But it still isn't happening," SNAP, a St. Louis-based advocacy group for survivors of clergy abuse, said in a statement. "There's no transparency here. Not one Catholic official has disclosed anything of substance about O'Brien's exploitative misdeeds. And what of his clerical colleagues? Not one of them knew of or suspected that O'Brien was abusing others? That's pretty hard to believe."