Sex-claim cardinal resigns

A senior cleric resigned under duress yesterday and Pope Benedict took the rare step of changing Vatican law to allow his successor to be elected early, adding to a sense of crisis around the Roman Catholic Church.

With just three days left before Benedict becomes the first pope in six centuries to step down, he accepted the resignation of Britain's only cardinal elector, Archbishop Keith O'Brien, who was to have voted for the next pope.

O'Brien, who retains the title of cardinal, has denied allegations that he behaved inappropriately with priests over a period of 30 years, but said he was quitting the job of archbishop of Edinburgh.

He could have attended the conclave despite his resignation because he is still a cardinal under 80, but said he would stay away because he did not want media attention to be focused on himself instead of the process of choosing the next leader of the 1.2-billion-member church.

His dramatic self-exclusion came as the Vatican continued to resist calls by some Catholics to stop other cardinals tainted by sex scandals, such as US Cardinal Roger Mahony, from taking part.

Catholic activists have petitioned Mahony to exclude himself from the conclave so as not to insult survivors of sexual abuse by priests committed while he was archbishop of Los Angeles.

In that post from 1985 until 2011, Mahony worked to send priests known to be abusers out of state to shield them from law enforcement scrutiny in the 1980s.

Benedict changed parts of a 1996 constitution issued by his predecessor, John Paul II, so that cardinals could begin a secret conclave to choose a successor earlier than the 15 days after the papacy becomes vacant.

The change means that in pre-conclave meetings starting on March 1, a day after Benedict leaves office on Thursday, they can themselves decide when to start.

With the Italian media speculating about conspiracies and alleged sexual scandals inside the Vatican that they say may have influenced his decision to resign, the pope's spokesman said an internal report into leaked papal documents would remain confidential and only be shown to the next pontiff. - Reuters