SHAMED Cardinal Keith O’Brien would be “broken” if he is banned from returning to Scotland, according to a friend.The Vatican last week announced O’Brien would leave the country for several months “for the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer and penance”.
But a parish priest who has spoken on his behalf said he had become extremely depressed by his enforced exile.
Canon John Creanor said: “The last time I spoke to the Cardinal he was utterly defeated. He loves Scotland. He’s made his life and his name here. I can be certain that if he were denied to come back to Scotland again he would be broken.”
O’Brien, 75, resigned in February after three priests and a former priest alleged improper conduct in the 1980s.
He later admitted improper advances to several young priests.
Canon Creanor has vowed to take legal action if O’Brien is forced into exile by the Vatican.
He said: “If he gets banned from coming back to Scotland and Dunbar I have got a legal team standing by. Whoever says to the Cardinal you cannot return to Scotland nor can you go to Dunbar, the place that you are longing to retire to, I will take to court. Whoever tells him that he cannot return to Scotland, whoever deals with their legal side of things, will have something land on their table that morning. Whatever legal redress that I can take will be taken to keep the Cardinal in Scotland. But I hope it won’t be necessary.”
Meanwhile, a former Episcopalian bishop of Edinburgh has compared the Vatican’s attempt to exile O’Brien to the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition”.
The Right Rev Richard Holloway said that the move flouted international law.
He said: “There is certainly something medieval about the ancient puishment of exile upon a broken man, though the CIA’s practice of extraordinary rendition may be a closer parallel.”
But O’Brien’s accusers have said they have been vindicated for making official complaints.
Catherine Deveney, the journalist who has been representing his accusers, said last month: “There is obvious sadness for Keith O’Brien as a man, but this was about Keith O’Brien the cardinal. So there is a mixture of sadness, a bit of relief they have been vindicated and I would say that there has also been a little bit of anger that it took all of this to get to where we are.”