What the Vatican has announced seems a much fairer outcome than the suggestion that he might be sent into exile permanently.
This seems to me to be a reasonable balance of justice tempered with mercy.
Apart from appointing new bishops this is the most direct intervention I can recall from Rome in the affairs of the Catholic Church in Scotland since the late 19th century squabbles between Scottish and Irish born clergy. The scandal surrounding the cardinal is historic but this latest development therefore also merits this description.
This intervention might suggest that the days of Vatican drift may have now come to an end. Pope Francis has already shown the world that he is a holy man of great humility. This action also demonstrates that he is not prepared to tolerate clerical misdemeanour even in the very highest ranks of the Church.
The Cardinal O'Brien affair is not the only seismic shock suffered by the Catholic people of Scotland in recent times. There are also the extraordinarily serious allegations about some members of the clergy made by Fr Matthew Despard in his Priesthood in Crisis. This has left those Catholics who have read it bewildered and angry. The bishops of Scotland seem determined to let sleeping dogs lie on this issue. I trust that Rome will not also put its head in the sand and that the Vatican will now complete the work :on Scotland which it has started.
However painful it might be, the Catholic people of Scotland deserve nothing other than the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Only then can they move on to a better future for the faith in our country.
Tom Devine is personal senior research professor of history in the University of Edinburgh
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