Roman Catholic Jacuzzi: The Pink Elephant in the Vatican

Disgrace gay Cardinal Keith O'Brien

The stories of the hypocrisy and double lives of members of the Catholic priesthood just keep on coming out of the flood gates that the Vatican would be only too happy to slam closed.  Not long ago this blog looked at the fact that the Vatican owns the biggest gay bathhouse in Rome.  And a cardinal lives in the same apartment block.  Now a new book is out that looks at a yearly gathering of gay priests where the priests "let their hair down" and step briefly out of the closet.  The author looks at the bizarre world of these priests and the messed up psychological state that they must obviously live in.  Here are highlights from the author's piece on Huffington Post:

In October 2010 I discovered the secret retreat where these priests meet in private once a year to let their hair down and be openly gay together for the week. I was not on a mission to find and expose such a retreat; I booked a cabin with the aim of being alone to concentrate on writing, and it happened to be at the same place and time as the priests. The disorganized resort allowed my stay without realizing what else they were hosting. As a gay former Catholic altar boy, I could not believe both the luck and horror of this discovery: Here I was, in the heart of the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, face to face with gay men whose teachings give a moral backbone to homophobia and discrimination against their fellow gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, men who uphold a value system that made me feel terrible as a teenager and made the process of admitting to myself that I'm gay torture because of its unbearable moral dilemma: Repress your sexuality or be damned! I immediately knew how politically important this retreat was and wrote down my experience with the priests as it was happening. 

[T]he Vatican clings to its stance against gay rights. Before Pope Benedict XVI resigned, he intensified his rhetoric, describing gay marriage as a threat to peace and denouncing those who he claims reject their God-given gender identities, arguing that their actions are destroying the "essence of the human creature." Before becoming pope, Pope Francis echoed these remarks, calling gay marriage "an anthropological step backward." It will be heartbreaking if this closeted gay mafia's influence sways the Supreme Court's decisions.

Roman Catholic Jacuzzi could have easily been used to publicly chastise gay priests as hypocrites, but as I witnessed firsthand the painful lives that these conflicted men lead, my position transformed from utter disdain to compassion. The gay priests I met told me that they estimated that the majority of their peers were gay. The gay men who are attracted to the priesthood are those who were brought up in the homophobic culture of the church. The church is both their problem and their solution, offering a respected position with the added value of a vow of celibacy that creates a seemingly perfect closet -- that is, until your unfulfilled urges get the best of you and preaching against what you are clouds your consciousness.

This past Easter morning, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said that he would like to be more welcoming to gay and lesbians. It might do him well to start with his colleagues and open a real debate about the church's closeted gay staff. In the 1970s Harvey Milk famously preached that coming out is the central action to advance gay civil rights. I would like to build on that and invite all gay Catholic priests to be brave enough to join the movement. Their honest sexual freedom is key to ending homophobia and ushering in a new worldwide era of gay equality in which the Catholic Church has an opportunity to reinvent its position and play a new role that truly teaches love instead of hate.

It's a sad commentary on the Church and how religious brainwashing warps and destroys so many lives.

Vatican Orders Cardinal Into Exile Over Gay Sex

Protecting sexual predators as a bishop or cardinal gets you a plum position in Rome if things get to hot with the law - remember Cardinal Law? - but admit to gay sexual conduct and you find yourself banished sent into exile.  That's the message the Vatican is sending with its order to Scotland's Cardinal Keith O'Brien to leave the country.   Be assured that I have ZERO sympathy for O'Brien who has proven to be a lying hypocrite who used his position to take advantage of seminarians and young priests.   The Scotland Herald reports on O'Brien's forced exile.  Here are excerpts:

Friends of the cleric have said he has been told by Rome to shelve his plans to retire to a church-owned cottage in East Lothian and instead leave the country.

The Herald understands Cardinal O'Brien was given the news yesterday afternoon, three days after being photographed moving his personal belongings from his official residence in Edinburgh to the residence in Dunbar where he had been spending regular weekends over the past few years.

It is the clearest indication yet of the Vatican's unwillingness to let the matter drift and concern that the Cardinal's admission of gay activity over decades and allegations of abuse towards trainee priests continues to damage the Church.

Investigations also continue into claims made by a serving priest in Lanarkshire of a "gay mafia" running seminaries in the 1980s and naming leading Catholic figures.

The Herald revealed on Thursday Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia was behind an appeal to the Vatican to intervene after Cardinal O'Brien's re-emergence in Scotland this week.

[S]enior figures in the Church said he was "still causing immense damage".

Blogger friend Father Tony who once served at the Vatican suggests that O'Brien go public with his full story - something that certainly would have the potential to embarrass Rome if others knew of his sexual trysts:

Since the Vatican has cut him loose, he ought to do the same to them. Come on, O'Brien, tell your story. Nothing to lose. Much to gain. Start with Letterman. Say the F word and get bleeped. Everyone already knows you did it.

Catholic Cardinal was in Physical Same Sex Relationship with Accuser

The dirt just keeps on coming out about disgraced Catholic Cardinal Keith O'Brien and it underscores his utter hypocrisy in attacking gays and gay marriage.  And, I suspect, O'Brien is but one of many in the Church hierarchy who preach against gay Catholics and gay civil rights and marriage even as they engage in physical same sex relationships themselves or molest subordinates and altar boys.   The irony is that O'Brien's anti-gay stridency in his official position may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, if you will, and pushed those with  whom he had been sexually intimate to to decide to take him down.  The phenomenon is similar to what led to former Congressman Ed Schrock's down fall:  he voted consistently anti-gay in Congress yet sought same sex hook ups and tryst.  The hypocrisy caused myself and others to ultimately help out him.  The moral is that if one is in the closet and playing around, being publicly anti-gay is the last thing one should do.  A piece in The Scotland Herald looks at what seems to have triggered the actions of O'Brien's acusers.  Here are highlights:

Cardinal Keith O'Brien had a long-standing physical relationship with one of the men whose complaints about his behaviour sparked his downfall as leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

The man left the priesthood in the middle of the last decade but rejoined and is living on the continent in a post the cardinal helped him secure. 

The complainant is known to have been in regular telephone contact with Cardinal O'Brien until recently and was a frequent visitor to St Benets, his official residence in Edinburgh's Morningside.

The Vatican Buys Europe's Biggest Gay Sauna

Image from Europa Multiclub Webpage

Whether it was a (i) mistake and yet another part of the Vatican's administrative incompetence or (ii) a secret plan to offer a new "retreat" to the closeted members of the Church hierarchy, we will never know, but The Independent is reporting that the Holy See has purchased a €23 million (£21 million) - roughly US$30 million - share of a Rome apartment block that houses Europe’s biggest gay sauna.  Obviously, the news is hysterically funny in my view with the conclave to elect the next pope set to begin tomorrow.  Perhaps the cardinals will mosey on by Europa Multiclub once they are done casting their secret ballots.  Here's a portion of the club president's greeting:

EMC is a place created by males and for males only. Our aim is to let you appreciate the taste and the satisfaction of meeting other persons in a unique and special place... Here you will find: king Turkish bath, Finnish sauna, giant whirlpool, waterfall whirlpool, relaxation rooms with videos, gym with Tecnogym equipments, cinema, aesthetics - solarium - massage, parties - shows - surprises,  .  .  .  .  The "BEAR" area speaks for itself.  Bears, hunters and admirer are welcome in Europa Multiclub!

Here are highlights from The Independent article:

A day ahead of the papal conclave, faces at the scandal-struck Vatican were even redder than usual after it emerged that the Holy See had purchased a €23 million (£21 million) share of a Rome apartment block that houses Europe’s biggest gay sauna.

The senior Vatican figure sweating the most due to the unlikely proximity of the gay Europa Multiclub is probably Cardinal Ivan Dias, the head of the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples, who is due to participate in tomorrow’s election at the Sistine Chapel.

This 76-year-old “prince of the church” enjoys a 12-room apartment on the first-floor of the imposing palazzo, at 2 Via Carducci, just yards from the ground floor entrance to the steamy flesh pot. There are 18 other Vatican apartments in the block, many of which house priests.

The Holy See is still reeling from allegations that the previous pontiff, Benedict XVI, had quit in reaction to the presence of a gay cabal in the curia.

And with disgraced Scottish cardinal Keith O’Brien lending new weight to charges of hypocrisy against the Church’s stance on homosexuality, La Repubblica newspaper noted that the presence of “Italy’s best known gay sauna in the premises is an embarrassment”.

Cardinal Dias, who is seen as a social conservative even by the current standards of the church hierarchy, is no doubt horrified to learn of the activities taking place a floor below.

It is not known, however, if the former archbishop of Bombay has popped downstairs to give spitiual guidances to the clients of the Europa Multiclub, given his belief that gays and lesbians can be cured of their “unnatural tendencies” through the “sacrement of penance”.

The sauna’s website promotes one of its special “bear nights”, with a video in which a rotund, hairy man strips down before changing into a priest’s outfit. It says Bruno, “a hairy, overweight pastor of souls, is free to the music of his clergyman, remaining in a thong, because he wants to expose body and soul”.

There was further embarrassment for the Holy See when the press observed that thanks to generous tax breaks it received from the last Berlusconi government, the church will have avoided hefty payments to the Italian state. The properties are recognized as part of the Holy City.

 As the boyfriend likes to say, you can't write stuff this good.  Here's the "Bear" video:
 

Catholic Bishops Knew of 20 Sex Abuse Allegations Against Priests

As the College of Cardinals assembles to select the next Pope to replace retired Nazi Pope Benedict XVI, the PR spin doctors for the Catholic Church strive to dupe the public and the Church laity into believing that things have changed in terms of the Church hierarchy's behavior towards predator priests.  As news reports out of the United Kingdom reveal, the truth of the matter is that little if anything has changed.  A story in The Guardian shows that it is still the same old pattern of cover ups and deception.  Here are some story highlights:

The hierarchy of Scotland's Catholic church was on the defensive again last night over claims that bishops knew of as many as 20 allegations of child sex abuse by priests in the 1980s and 90s, along with a separate revelation that the Vatican is currently considering the case of a Scottish priest accused of child sex abuse.

The claims about the 20 cases, which were made by an academic previously involved in advising the church on sexual abuse and how to respond to it, also came as a report suggested that Cardinal Keith O'Brien was summoned to Rome to answer charges of sexual impropriety as early as October last year.

O'Brien was forced to resign last month by Pope Benedict XVI, barely 36 hours after the Observer disclosed that three serving priests and one former priest were accusing him of "inappropriate acts" against them nearly 30 years ago.

While he made a dramatic admission last weekend that he was guilty of sexual misconduct throughout his career in the church, new questions about the handling of his case have now been raised by a report by the Catholic weekly, the Tablet, which claimed that he was called to Rome last year after a priest lodged an allegation with the Congregation for Bishops. 

A separate report by the BBC, which claimed that bishops knew of as many as 20 allegations of child sex abuse by priests, was based on correspondence between senior clerics and Alan Draper, an expert in social work and lecturer at Dundee University who compiled a report for the church on how to deal with abuse.

He remains scathing about the hierarchy's response to the report drawn up by him and a working party and last night called on the church to open up its files and records to an independent assessment.

"Certainly there's strong evidence to say some of the priests were out of control sexually, whether they be homosexual or heterosexual," he said. "The file should be made open to an independent group, preferably chaired by a judge."

The Church hierarchy remains a veritable cesspool.  How anyone can honor and give deference to these horrible men is dumbfounding.

The Continued Moral Bankruptcy of the Catholic Hierarchy

One can only hope that O'Brien gets what he deserves in the end.  What is more troubling is the likelihood that there are many others like O'Brien in the Church hierarchy and the main efforts of the institutional Church will be to protect them even as normal, well adjusted gays continue to be attacked by the bitter, self-loathing old queens in Rome. 

The Continued Moral Bankruptcy of the Catholic Church Leadership

Much as the GOP base lives in a fantasy world that is increasingly out of touch with reality, the Catholic Church hierarchy also lives in some form of sick, morally bankrupt alternate reality where protecting sexual predators becomes laudatory if it means protecting the Church from exposure or embarrassment.  The damage done to perhaps hundreds of thousands of children world wide does cause a ripple in the minds of the smug, self-centered, power hungry old queens who inhabit the Vatican and bishoprics around the world.   As I have argued before, I believe the phenomenon stems from at least two things: (i) a celibate out of touch and often psychologically warped priesthood that lacks any normal emotional intimacy where children are seen as some different species and (ii) the truly sick obsession with all things sexual that so permeates the bitter old men at the top of the Church pyramid.  It is a systemic problem that will not change absent an end to celibacy and a thorough house cleaning of those who have overseen and/or participated in a worldwide criminal conspiracy to protect those who in any other realm are seen as horrible monsters.  A piece in The New Yorker looks at the warped world of the Church hierarchy.  Here are excerpts:

For a moment, it looked as if Cardinal Roger Mahony, of Los Angeles, might be excluded from the conclave that gathers this week to select a new Pope. Under a settlement with some five hundred plaintiffs, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles had been forced to release the records of its dealings with priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Mahony was then the archbishop, and he and other Church officials exchanged letter after letter about one priest, recommending that he stay away from L.A., where he might attract unwanted attention, presumably from the law; he eventually admitted to molesting the children of undocumented immigrants, and allegedly threatened at least one of them with deportation if he told. Meanwhile, the Church provided the priest with residential treatment and a position in another state.

But last week, as Pope Benedict XVI was preparing to step down, Mahony was sending sprightly tweets from the Vatican: “Good weather forecast for this week in Rome; no rain. Mid 50s during the day, upper 30s at night. Great Holy Spirit weather!!”

Mahony’s defenders say that he is being singled out, and they have a point. Anne Burke, an Illinois judge who served on the Catholic Bishops’ advisory board, told the Times that too many Church leaders had “participated in one way or another in having actual information about criminal conduct, and not doing anything. What are you going to do? They’re all not going to participate in the conclave?”

What is distinctive about child abuse in the Catholic Church is not its existence, or even its coverup; in recent months alone, we’ve seen evidence of similar cowardice at Penn State and the BBC. What is distinctive is that Catholic officials can find a higher purpose—protecting the sanctity of the priesthood—in shielding abusers, and a spiritually rewarding humility in enduring criticism of their conduct. Mahony has been blogging about the public disparagement he has received, and he compares it to what Christ withstood, urging the faithful to join him in exploring what it is to “take up our cross daily and to follow Jesus—in rejection, in humiliation, and in personal attack.” But, unlike the criminal prosecution of perpetrators—or real Church reform—that doesn’t do much to help victims or to prevent abuse.

[Benedict XVI]did not dismiss bishops who had looked the other way, and he did not inaugurate an accountability at the highest levels, as the abused and their advocates had hoped. 

Benedict’s term, in fact, has been characterized by an intensifying disapproval of would-be reformers. In a homily last spring, the Pope denounced the efforts of a reforming priest in Austria, where a hundred and fifty thousand Catholics have left the Church in response to revelations of sex abuse in that country, and called upon Catholics to embrace instead “the radicalism of obedience.”  .  .  .  .  surely a Church that expels a priest for advocating women’s ordination faster than it does men who have been credibly accused of raping children is in some kind of trouble.

[C]elibacy conferred—and, despite everything, probably still confers—an aura of purity, of exalted separateness, that protected priests from suspicion, and earned them the sometimes undeserved trust of parents and children.

Nobody really seems to believe that this conclave will pick a Pope who would consider removing leaders like Mahony or ordaining women or allowing priests to marry. But so many people worldwide—especially those who have been ignored, mistreated, or excluded by a Church they love—would rejoice if it did. 

I have no regrets about leaving the Catholic Church.  I would feel dirty if I had remained a member.  What amazes me is how those who consider themselves decent, moral people can remain a part of an institution whose leadership has so thoroughly been documented to be morally bankrupt monsters.  I find it dumbfounding.  They are akin to the "good Germans" who claim to have known nothing about the Holocaust even though new research reveals that such claimed ignorance was likely virtually impossible.  Doing nothing can and does allow evil to occur.

UK Cardinal Admits to Sexual Improprieties

I have long maintained that those most outwardly homophobic and who verbally attack gays are typically the worse self-loathing closet cases.  Indeed, a University of Georgia study founded that it was the homophobes, not the gays, who were most aroused when viewing gay porn.  And this rule  of thumb seemingly holds true both in and out of religious institutions.  One need only recall Virginia Congressman Ed Schrock who had one of the most anti-gay voting records in Congress yet dropped his re-election campaign after it was exposed that he was using a gay hook up site to arrange trysts with men.  Now we can add Cardinal Keith O'Brien to this list of self-loathing hypocrites and liars.  Until recently, O'Brien was the highest ranking Catholic in the United Kingdom.  That is to say that was until accusations were leveled by five past and present priests that O'Brien had engaged in sexual improprieties with them.  O'Brien quickly resigned and was barred from participating in the conclave to elect a new Pope.  Now, O'Brien has admitted that the allegations were true.  One can only wonder (i) how many in the Church hierarchy knew of O'Brien's improper actions and (ii) how many more O'Briens there are among the ranks of the Church's bishops and cardinals.  I suspect that the answer to both issues is that many knew and many others have engaged in similar actions.  Pink News looks at O'Brien's admission that the claims against him were true.  Here are excepts:

In the statement, released on Sunday, the Cardinal apologised, and asked for forgiveness, as well as admitting that, despite previously contesting the allegations, some were true.

It read: “In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them.

“However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.

“To those I have offended, I apologize and ask forgiveness… To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologize.”  He concluded by saying that he would retire, and would have no involvement in the Catholic church in Scotland, going forward.

He said: “I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland.”

Also today, one of the priests accusing Cardinal O’Brien of inappropriate behaviour came forward to call for transparency within the Catholic church, which he said would “crush him” if it could, for speaking out. 

Last November, Cardinal O’Brien was named ‘Bigot of the Year’ by a gay rights charity due to his staunch opposition to marriage equality.

In 2012, he stated that same-sex relationships were “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual well being” and compared equal marriage to slavery and child abuse.

In an editorial on Friday, British Catholic newspaper The Tablet said:“When Cardinal Keith O’Brien called gay marriage a ‘grotesque subversion’ and ‘madness’ it attracted widespread censure. No wonder the accusations of inappropriate behaviour as a younger man – strenuously denied – were so damning. If true, it made him look a hypocrite. For the church this was a public relations disaster.”

I suspect that the college of cardinals will elect yet another right wing, reactionary homophobe to replace Benedict XVI and that nothing will change within the Church.

Pope Forces Out Closeted Anti-Gay Cardinal Keith O'Brien

Over the weekend this blog noted the exploding gay sex scandal surrounding UK Cardinal Keith O'Brien who has been an outspoken opponent to LGBT rights in general and gay marriage in particular.  While O'Brien had said he would contest the allegations made by four different priests - most of the claimed sexual advances occurred when the priest were seminarians or newly ordained - there must have been fire and not just smoke in the allegations because reportedly in a final act Pope Benedict XVI forced O'Brien's resignation.  As one might expect, perennial Catholic Church apologist William Donohue is apoplectic that the "Lavender Mafia" successfully took down a cardinal.   Despite Donohue's protestations that O'Brien should be deemed innocent until proven guilty, Benedict XVI in a rare display of decisive punishment for sexual impropriety felt forced to act.  Apparently, covering up countless crimes against children and youths is fine with Benedict XVI, but accusations of actually participating in gay sexual activities is too much for the the bitter old queen.  First these highlights from The Guardian:

The pope has forced the abrupt resignation of Britain's most senior Roman Catholic as the church made a frantic attempt to minimise the impact of allegations of "inappropriate acts" committed by Cardinal Keith O'Brien against fellow priests.

O'Brien stood down as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh the day after the Observer published accusations by three serving priests and a former priest about his conduct towards them during the 1980s.

He issued a statement in which he ambiguously apologised for "any failures" and to those he had "offended", and announced that he would no longer travel to the Vatican to help select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who retires at 8pm on Thursday. O'Brien had been due to be the only British cardinal with a vote.

The cardinal revealed in his statement that he had been asked by the outgoing pope to stand down immediately. Already due to retire next month, the cardinal stated: "The Holy Father has now decided that my resignation will take effect today."

Senior Catholics said his resignation was intended to stop the allegations turning into a crisis. The church is already under pressure over unrelated abuse and corruption scandals in other dioceses.

Professor John Haldane, one of Scotland's senior Catholic theologians and an adviser to the Vatican, said O'Brien's decision was "shocking and sad" but, given the timing of the allegations and the "inevitable" media interest, it was not a surprise.

[T]the move led critics to demand that other cardinals at the centre of scandals over failures to report sex abuse by priests – including Roger Mahony, emeritus archbishop of Los Angeles, and Seán Brady, the primate of all Ireland – "recuse" themselves from the papal conclave, citing O'Brien's decision as a precedent.

In his statement on Monday, O'Brien implied he had been told to resign immediately, stating: "The Holy Father has now decided that my resignation will take effect today, 25 February 2013, and that he will appoint an apostolic administrator to govern the archdiocese in my place until my successor as archbishop is appointed."

Insiders said O'Brien's abrupt departure had left the Scottish Catholic church, which he had led for 10 years, disoriented and shocked. One source said it meant that only three out of eight Scottish dioceses now have full-time, permanent bishops in charge.

I suspect that many others within the ranks of the Church's cardinals and bishops have behaved no differently than O'Brien.  Meanwhile, here's what the always incensed  Donohue is spouting:

We don’t know the names of the four men making the accusations because the British newspaper behind this story, The Observer, won’t release them; the details of what allegedly happened have not been disclosed (all we know are vague statements about “inappropriate” and “unwanted” contact); the four accusers waited over 30 years to come forward before coordinating their joint charges.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien must be considered innocent until proven guilty. But we don’t need to wait any longer to conclude that the British media have discredited themselves again (they do so regularly with all matters Catholic). To withhold the names of the accusers, and the details of what allegedly happened (dating back to 1980), without ever allowing the accused to rebut the charges, is despicable. Am I alone in picking up the scent of lavender in the air?

Britain's Top Cardinal Accused of "Inappropriate Acts" by Priests

With the Nazi Pope, Benedict XVI scheduled to step down on Thursdays, rumors swirling that there is a possible blackmail campaign involving a clique of gay cardinals and speculation as to whether or not Benedict XVI might face criminal prosecutions once he is no longer Pope, one would think that there isn't much more scandal that could envelop the Roman Catholic Church.  But that assumption would be wrong.  Now, the top Catholic Cardinal in the Britain - who, of course has been stridently outspoken in opposition to gay marriage - has been accused of "inappropriate acts" by several priests of all things.  Seemingly, the question seems to be whether there is anyone in the Church hierarchy who hasn't been involved in sex abuse in one way or another, known about the Vatican's money laundering activities, or engaged in obstruction of justice.  Here are highlights from The Guardian on the new bombshell story in the UK:

Three priests and a former priest in Scotland have reported the most senior Catholic clergyman in Britain, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, to the Vatican over allegations of inappropriate behaviour stretching back 30 years.

The four, from the diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, have complained to nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican's ambassador to Britain, and demanded O'Brien's immediate resignation. A spokesman for the cardinal said that the claims were contested.

O'Brien, who is due to retire next month, has been an outspoken opponent of gay rights, condemning homosexuality as immoral, opposing gay adoption, and most recently arguing that same-sex marriages would be "harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of those involved". Last year he was named "bigot of the year" by the gay rights charity Stonewall.

One of the complainants, it is understood, alleges that the cardinal developed an inappropriate relationship with him, resulting in a need for long-term psychological counselling.
 
The revelation of the priests' complaints will be met with consternation in the Vatican. Allegations of sexual abuse by members of the church have dogged the papacy of Benedict XVI, who is to step down as pope at the end of this month. Following the announcement, rumours have swirled in Rome that Benedict's shock move may be connected to further scandals to come.

The four priests asked a senior figure in the diocese to act as their representative to the nuncio's office. Through this representative, the nuncio replied, in emails seen by the Observer, that he appreciated their courage.

It is understood that the first allegation against the cardinal dates back to 1980. The complainant, who is now married, was then a 20-year-old seminarian at St Andrew's College, Drygrange, where O'Brien was his "spiritual director". The Observer understands that the statement claims O'Brien made an inappropriate approach after night prayers.

The seminarian says he was too frightened to report the incident, but says his personality changed afterwards, and his teachers regularly noted that he seemed depressed. He was ordained, but he told the nuncio in his statement that he resigned when O'Brien was promoted to bishop. "I knew then he would always have power over me. It was assumed I left the priesthood to get married. I did not. I left to preserve my integrity."

In a second statement, "Priest A" describes being happily settled in a parish when he claims he was visited by O'Brien and inappropriate contact between the two took place.

In a third statement, "Priest B" claims that he was starting his ministry in the 1980s when he was invited to spend a week "getting to know" O'Brien at the archbishop's residence. His statement alleges that he found himself dealing with what he describes as unwanted behaviour by the cardinal after a late-night drinking session.

"Priest C" was a young priest the cardinal was counselling over personal problems. Priest C's statement claims that O'Brien used night prayers as an excuse for inappropriate contact. The cardinal maintained contact with Priest C over a period of time, and the statement to the nuncio's office alleges that he engineered at least one other intimate situation.

He has immense power over you. He can move you, freeze you out, bring you into the fold … he controls every aspect of your life. You can't just kick him in the balls."

Am I surprised by these allegations?  Not in the least.  The filth and hypocrisy across the top ranks of the Catholic clergy are the norm, not the exception.  Yet mindless Catholics continue to bankroll this horrid institution and refuse to open their eyes to the truth.  O'Brien is pictured below.