MANCHESTER, England – Celebrating the funeral of a disgraced Scottish cardinal, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales invoked the mercy of God and asked for prayers of healing.

VATICAN – Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who resigned five years ago as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh after admitting to sexual misconduct, died early March 19 at the age of 80.

EDINBURGH, Scotland – Twelve men are set to be ordained priests in Scotland this year, a 20-year high that Catholic leaders credited to prayers and other work to encourage vocations.

EDINBURGH, Scotland – A priest who was reported missing last week from his parish in Edinburgh, Scotland was found dead on a nearby beach Friday afternoon.

EDINBURGH, Scotland – A 12 year-old boy has been charged with threatening and abusive behaviour following an incident on Tuesday at a Catholic Church in Scotland.

CANTERBURY, England – More than half of the 5.4 million people living in Scotland have no religion, according to a survey published by Scottish Social Attitudes.

GLASGOW, Scotland - The president of the Scottish bishops' conference offered a "profound apology" to victims of child abuse following a national review of Church safeguarding procedures.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis accepted Scotland Cardinal Keith O'Brien's decision to renounce all "duties and privileges" associated with being a cardinal.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - Scotland’s Catholic bishops have urged reconciliation after a long and bruising campaign in which the Scottish people rejected independence in a Sept. 18 referendum.

MANCHESTER, England - The Catholic bishops of Scotland said they accept the results of referendum in which Scot voters rejected independence.

MANCHESTER, England - Scotland's archbishops have encouraged Catholics to vote in the forthcoming referendum on independence — and to pay attention to the issue of religious freedom.

MANCHESTER, England - A Scottish court ruled that two senior Catholic midwives have no right to conscientiously object to overseeing staff involved in late-term abortions in a state-run hospital.

The Court of Session, Scotland's supreme civil court, ruled that Mary Doogan, 57, and Concepta Wood, 51, could not invoke the conscience clause of the 1967 Abortion Act to opt out of their duties at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital because they were not directly involved in performing the abortions.