CARDINAL Keith O’Brien cuts a solemn figure yesterday as he moves his things
into his new house — in the first pictures of the cleric since he fled
Scotland over his gay sex scandal.
Shamed O’Brien seemed wracked by concerns as he packed his belongings for the
flit from his old home in Edinburgh to a new pad paid for by the church. 
Wearing a cardigan and brown trousers, the 75-year-old looked like any other pensioner as he drove the 30 miles between the properties, stopping for petrol on the way.
And after he arrived, he revealed he will move into the house in Dunbar, East Lothian, once a new cardinal is appointed by Rome.
He said: “I’ve had a busy life as a priest, a bishop and a cardinal — and it’s a nice place to relax.
“My own home is in the north of Ireland but I don’t want to go back to Ireland at the present time. All my friends are here in Scotland.
“I’ve been coming down here for weekends for some years as a retreat. It’s a nice little place. My plan is to move here ultimately to relax and enjoy my retirement.”
O’Brien fled Scotland after admitting inappropriate behaviour with four priests. He was believed to have moved to an English bolthole and spent some time in Portugal.
But yesterday he finally emerged from hiding to take his belongings from sprawling St Benet’s mansion in posh Morningside, Edinburgh, to the new pad in Dunbar.
Trudging alone in his pensioners’ get-up, the stony-faced cardinal looked a far cry from the image he cut in ceremonial robes.
One onlooker said: “He was a sorry sight — he looked like he had the world on his shoulders.
“The past couple of months has obviously taken its toll and he has aged a few years. He used to always have a smile on his face but yesterday he looked miserable.
“It’s hard to believe he held such a powerful position in the Catholic Church. Now he’s just an ordinary looking guy you see walking along the street.”
In Edinburgh, O’Brien packed his prized possessions into the back of his black Hyundai Ix20 before setting off on the 40-minute drive.
After a petrol stop he arrived and parked up next to a camper van before unpacking his car and walking into his new home with several boxes of possessions.
At one point he was seen clutching a treasured photo of himself with former pope Benedict XVI and other Scots bishops, taken at the Vatican in 2010. He was sacked as Archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrew’s by Benedict after the sex scandal broke in February.
But he remains a cardinal and Scotland’s top Catholic, with the new Pope Francis the only person who can remove him from the role.
O’Brien’s modest new home is a church-owned property in the sleepy seaside town. It’s a couple of minutes walk from Dunbar’s high street, and just yards from Our Lady of the Waves Catholic Church where O’Brien took his final mass in March.
But a church insider hit out at the cardinal for moving into the pad — where he will still enjoy benefits including a housekeeper and secretary paid for by the local diocese.
The source said: “It is beyond belief this man, who has done so much to harm the church, should come back to the country — let alone set up home in that house.”
Cardinal O’Brien’s world collapsed when a complaint was made against him last October by a Scots priest who wrote to the Vatican. Then in February, allegations from four men were lodged with the Papal Nuncio Archbishop Antonio Mennini.
O’Brien resigned immediately when it emerged that complaints against him included “lewd behaviour” and “drunken fumblings”.
The four were advised to stay quiet before being told O’Brien would leave the spotlight. He has since apologised and asked for forgiveness.
Earlier this week we told how the Vatican has NOT launched an inquiry into his misconduct.
O’Brien has been an often controversial figure since Pope John Paul II made him cardinal in 2003.
In 2007 the cleric — born in Northern Ireland — sparked fury when he said the Scottish abortion rate was equivalent to “two Dunblane massacres a day”.
Last year he was named Bigot of the Year by gay rights group Stonewall for his stance on same-sex marriage.