Keith O’Brien, Catholic cardinal who resigned in disgrace, dies at 80

Keith O’Brien, the first Roman Catholic cardinal in modern history to recuse himself from a papal election and who resigned in disgrace over charges of sexual misconduct, died March 19 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. He was 80.

His former archdiocese in Scotland announced his death. He had a heart ailment.

Cardinal O’Brien, once Britain’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, resigned as the archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh in 2013 and recused himself from the conclave that elected Francis as pope after unidentified priests alleged in British newspaper reports that he had acted inappropriately toward them.