The Vatican announced Friday that a Scottish cardinal accused of sexual misconduct will lose all the rights and privileges of that high office following his resignation – the first time a cardinal has resigned since the 1920s.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien was Britain’s senior Catholic cleric until he stepped down from his regular duties in 2013 after allegations surfaced that he had made sexual advances to a number of priests.

On Friday, the Vatican said O’Brien would retain the title of cardinal but would not be allowed to participate in public religious events or have the rights and privileges of a cardinal, such as voting for pope.

The arrangement came after unusual private meetings with Pope Francis. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Francis demanded O’Brien’s resignation.

The Tablet, a British Catholic publication, reported Friday that a church investigator’s report on the O’Brien case was “hot enough to burn the varnish” off the pope’s desk.

The inquiry was led by Charles Scicluna, archbishop of Malta, who formerly was a top prosecutor for the church’s doctrine-enforcing body.

While the review was underway, the pope asked O’Brien to “undertake a period of prayer and penance,” The Tablet reported, and O’Brien has been out of public view.

French Jesuit Louis Billot was the last cardinal to renounce his status, in 1927, Crux reported Friday.

That resignation came over tensions between Billot and Pope Pius XI over Action Francais, a far-right French monarchist movement that Billot supported. He remained a priest and theologian for four more years until his death.