Cardinal Keith O'Brien to be buried alongside parents

The funeral of Cardinal Keith O'Brien will take place in Newcastle next month.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, will be the main celebrant and will deliver the homily.

Cardinal O'Brien, who died on Monday aged 80, will then be buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Edinburgh in the same plot as his parents.

The cardinal resigned as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in 2013 after apologising for sexual misconduct.

The archdiocese confirmed the requiem mass will take place at the Church of St Michael on Westmoreland Road, Newcastle on Thursday 5 April at 13:00.

Donations to the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund's (SCIAF) Lenten Wee Box campaign have been requested instead of flowers.

The cardinal will be buried at 13:00 the following day in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Edinburgh, alongside his mother and father.

A spokesman for the archdiocese said: "This was in accordance with wishes expressed by Cardinal O'Brien himself."

Cardinal O'Brien's health had deteriorated since a fall last month in which he broke his collarbone and suffered a head injury.

The Little Sisters of the Poor, who run a nursing home in Newcastle upon Tyne, were caring for him.

After he was admitted to hospital his successor Archbishop Leo Cushley visited him and administered the last rites.

Cardinal O'Brien resigned in February 2013 after three priests and a former priest alleged improper conduct back in the 1980s.

He initially contested the allegations but later apologised, saying his sexual conduct had "fallen beneath the standards" expected of him.