Pope Francis ordered ousted Scottish Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien to leave the country and spend the time in prayer and penance. The cardinal was asked to step down by then Pope Benedict XVI in one of his last moves before he retired on Feb 28 after Cardinal O'Brien admitted sexual relations with other priests in his younger days.

Because of his admission, the cardinal was asked to step down as head of the Scottish Roman Catholic Church days before his official retirement and not to join the March conclave that eventually resulted in the election of then Buenos Aires Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new pontiff.

He initially denied the accusations but eventually admitted that there where occasions when he acted inappropriately.

Period of banishment for the disgraced cardinal will be subject to agreement between him and Vatican, although the reports said it would be only for several months.

The banishment order came on the same day that Pope Francis ordered clergymen to take care to avoid temptation for them to become effective shepherds. He delivered the challenge in his May 15 at the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence.

"A bishop is not a bishop for himself. He is for the people and a priest is not a priest for himself. He is for the people, to serve, to nurture them, to shepherd them, who are his flock - in order to defend them from the wolves," Catholic News Agency quoted the pope.

The pontiff asked people, in turn, to pray for their bishops and priests to battle temptation.

"We are men and we are sinners ... We are tempted," he said.

The crackdown on sex abuses in the Roman Catholic Church is considered one of the biggest tasks Pope Francis has to implement, and his order concerning Cardinal O'Brien confirms what he just said in his homily that wolves in bishop's or cardinal's garments have no place in his flock.

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