What lurks beneath the cassock?

It is quite shocking that Britain's most senior Roman Catholic clergyman has resigned over allegations of 'improper' actions towards other priests.  That he has been stridently anti-gay marriage may have been a case of hiding in plain sight - doth he protest too much?  It's not like a politician stepping down from government to clear their name and then getting a plush cabinet post at the next reshuffle once the trouble goes away (if it does).  Stepping down as cardinal is a one-way street indicating that the allegations have some merit.  Then again, it is rumoured that one of Pope Benedict's last actions as pontiff was to force this through.  It means there will no British representative voting for the next pope.  Surely not a case of a German getting one over on the British?