In one of the most significant breaks with Catholic orthodoxy, Cardinal Keith O'Brien said many priests found it "very difficult to cope" with the celibate life and suggested lifting that ban could soon happen in the wider church. He spoke of his surprise at the resignation of Benedict XVI, and said he was open to the new Pope coming from outside of Europe. In an interview with BBC Scotland's Glenn Campbell, the leader of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland, said some issues - for example abortion and euthanasia - were "basic dogmatic beliefs" of "divine origin" which the Church could never accept. But Cardinal O'Brien, who is the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, said it would be within the scope of the new Pope to consider whether the Roman Catholic Church should change its stance on other issues, which were not of divine origin. O'Brien said he could "hardly believe it" when he heard Pope Benedict had announced his resignation. "For example the celibacy of the clergy, whether priests should marry – Jesus didn't say that," O'Brien said. "There was a time when priests got married, and of course we know at the present time in some branches of the church - in some branches of the Catholic church - priests can get married, so that is obviously not of divine of origin and it could get discussed again." Saying he had never considered marriage, as he was "too busy" with his duties, the cardinal said: "In my time there was no choice and you didn't really consider it too much, it was part of being a priest. When I was a young boy, the priest didn't get married and that was it. "I would be very happy if others had the opportunity of considering whether or not they could or should get married. "It is a free world and I realise that many priests have found it very difficult to cope with celibacy as they lived out their priesthood and felt the need of a companion, of a woman, to whom they could get married and raise a family of their own." "It is something which the cardinals have to think about seriously, having had popes from Europe for such a long time now – hundreds of years – whether it isn't time to think of the developing world as being a source of excellent men," he said. "And of course we do have excellent cardinals from other parts of the world as well - highly intelligent, well-trained, deeply spiritual men from other parts of the world."
– With a new pope on the way, Britain's most influential Catholic says the Vatican should let priests marry and have families, the Guardian reports. Spurning Catholic orthodoxy, Cardinal Keith O'Brien said that "many priests have found it very difficult to cope with celibacy," which "is obviously not of divine of origin." O'Brien, a semi-retired cardinal who plans to step down as head of Scotland's Roman Catholic Church, will be Britain's only Catholic involved in choosing Benedict's successor at the Vatican next month. ""For example the celibacy of the clergy, whether priests should marry—Jesus didn't say that," he told the BBC. "There was a time when priests got married, and of course we know at the present time in some branches of the church—in some branches of the Catholic church—priests can get married." He added that "many priests have ... felt the need of a companion, of a woman, to whom they could get married and raise a family of their own." O'Brien has sparked controversy by strongly opposing gay marriage and gay adoption in the UK.