Priests make sexual allegations against Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien

What about that ultra-conservative hierarch in Dublin of years past who regularly railed against gayness and slept with his houseboy? Bah! It gets to the point where you believe that any priest who rails against gayness is a practicing gay, and that those who ado not rail are either truly celibate gays or straights.

Cardinal O'Brien is trying to keep the youth of Scotland away from sin. Sin or sins he may have committed himself but that does not make him hypocritical if he has turned away from whatever evil attracted him in the past...SAME FOR ALL OF YOU HERE SO QUICK TO CONDEMN A CARDINAL....you may have robbed a bank when you were in your 20's but the smartest thing you can do is to advise youngsters NOT to steal.....

The homofascists are at it again. The timing is so blatant it's laughable. Kick em out so they can go join one of the fruit bat churches. But above all, print their names. No more anonymity for the false accusers.

bunkerisland's theory number 2 - yes - priestly inability to maintain a healthy intimate relationship whether gay or straight - that seems very plausible.

This is a lose lose scenario fot the RC Church. If O'Brien is guilty then its another monstrous exaqmple of hypocracy. If he is being set up because of his comments about celibicy, it is shameful. Also if the papal Nuncio did say that the whistleblowers were brave to speak up then is he not preempting an investigation into the truth by showing such support?

@BishopSean: she who screams the loudest has the most to hide. learn it.

If you think the timing of this is suspicious what on earth do you make of Ratzingers? The wheels have come off the whole sorry enterprise.

@olovely: So, how about that sanctimonious William Jefferson. I suspected that he was "a saint for our times".

OK! Theory #2 Most young men who enter the seminary are in rather early stages of understanding and practicing intimacy. As a consequences of their career selection they will initially have very limited contact with women (let's exclude all the Irish maids and caretakers that serve them). Their leaders are middle age or older men who have either secretly carried on a sexual relationship with the opposite sex, or they have satisfied their sexual needs alone or are attempting a sexual relationship with a youthful seminarian. Of course that ignores all the pedophiles that carry on exploiting parishioners. It becomes a den of hallow men generally unable to develop or maintain a health intimate relations be it heterosexual or homosexual. They are essentially empty vessels of men filled with secrets that are violations of their church practices & societies practices leading hypocritical lives. To leave the church, obtain normal employment and develop a life similar to the rest of us seems an impossible choice after having many of their needs met by an institution that expects little of them. They are doomed. Their numbers diminish and will continue to. The trade off is too great. Mean while the rest of us need to protect our children from the population of priests that prey on the defenseless. The days of adulation are long over. Respect falls away as more violations are known. It becomes an institution having both shame and arrogance. The humble seminarian is devoured within it!

the timing is impeccable if guilty now he was guilty last year or for that matter any year you would like to choose why did they sit on this for so long, are they trying to tell us they couldnt find him. either way it sure looks like a hatchet job.but then the members of p2. within the vatican are well versed in subterfuge.

not known for my defence of organized religion,but this smacks of a stitch up by a bunch of hysterical homos with an agenda to peddle which this priest is obviously refreshingly outspoken and catagorically against,in line with 2,000 years of church doctrine.Strange the timing of these allegations.

Pounder's point is well taken. The Vatican will have to take pains to explain why to believe their timing of this revelation about this bishop's being called on the carpet in Rome, so soon after his public statement on the need of the church to allow for married priests, is anything other than an example of institutional vengeance of the Vatican for those who do not toe the party line concerning married priests. We shall see.

Something smells fishy here.We condemn the Church for everything,why not a conspiracy aginst this guy for being contrary to Church leanings on marriage by the clergy.

What a disgraceful and terrible man if this is true. The hypocrisy is stomach churning. He tells gays they can't marry, he says they are immoral and then it is alleged that he has fiddled with priests he had power over. I think that the Church is probably full of priests who are repressed gay men. They are self-loathing and they transfer their hatred onto other homosexuals. They join the Church precisely because they know they cannot get married without being found out (unresponsive equipment would soon 'out' any gay man trying to have sex with a woman). The Church is an ideal closet because it does not permit marriage for priests. From there, any self-loathing gay priest can attack all other gay men and so divert attention from themselves. It's a theory - anyone else thought this might be the case?

Another arrogant church leader, dressed in red, reigning terror over young seminarians while sharing alcohol and trying to use them as sex toys. Meanwhile he ridicules others and speaks of immorality. The Catholic Church is filled with leaders that are evil, exploiting others while using their power to take what they want from others.They are like thieves in the night, wrecking the lives of others while hiding in their catered estates. It is not unlike a monarchy where leaders do little while expecting others to meet their every need. This monarchy will end as well.