Cardinal Keith O'Brien, originally from Ballycastle, Co Antrim, is to leave Scotland for several months after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct during his church career, the Vatican has said.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien will face a Vatican inquiry after admitting that his sexual conduct “had fallen beneath the standards” expected of him during his almost 50-year career.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien last night admitted that his sexual conduct had at times “fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal”.

The scandal-hit Catholic Church needs to undergo renewal and reform, the former leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales said today as he called for the “pope’s own house to be put in order” in the wake of recent troubles.