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                          British Cardinal Steps Down

   by VOA News

   Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric has resigned.
   Cardinal Keith O'Brien has handed in his resignation following
   allegations from three priests and a former priest that O'Brien
   approached them inappropriately in the 1980s.
   The Vatican confirmed the the cleric's resignation Monday. A Vatican
   statement said Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the cardinal's
   resignation "from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Saint
   Andrews and Edinburgh."
   The BBC reports that the Scottish cardinal's resignation leaves Britain
   without a representative at the Vatican's conclave of cardinals who
   will elect a new pope.
   Cardinal O'Brien was set to retire next month.
   The Roman Catholic Church has been battling a string of unsavory media
   reports.
   On Saturday, Catholic activists petitioned Cardinal Roger Mahony of the
   United States to recuse himself from the papal election so as not to
   insult survivors of sexual abuse committed by priests while he was
   archbishop of Los Angeles.
   The Vatican has criticized the media for adding what it called
   defamatory "pressures" on cardinals before the election.
   Italian newspapers recently have put out unsourced reports about the
   contents of a secret dossier prepared for the pope that was linked to
   the 2012 scandal over leaked Vatican documents.
   Pope Benedict announced earlier this month that he was resigning for
   health reasons. He is the first pope to step aside in hundreds of
   years.
   Current rules call for the cardinals who elect the pope to meet on
   March 15, which is 15 days after Benedict formally steps down.
   Benedict was elected pope in 2005 to replace the late John Paul II.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/british-cardinal-steps-down/1610119.html