The presenter of Channel 4's The Last Leg said the Paralympian hero was his idol, that he worshipped him as a role model and liked him as a person.

Then the 'Bladerunner' was charged with shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Did the Aussie comic make jokes? No. He said if the shooting proved an accident, he would devastated and very sad. If it was intentional, he was disappointed and very sad.

The outcome, for him, was pretty much the same.

Although the allegations are very different, that's how I feel when reading about the scandal surrounding Cardinal Keith O'Brien. Someone who has been put on a pedestal has spectacularly fallen from grace.

Whatever happens, whatever admissions emerge from the Vatican's inquiry, no one wins.

All those followers who believe strongly in the Catholic Church have had their faith shaken and it's sad. If the spiritual leader of hundreds of thousands of people can't live up to the expectations of this millennia-old establish-ment, what chance does anyone else have?

For all those who had their anniversaries, marriages, confirmations, communions, confessions or prayers blessed by the Cardinal, are these now tainted by his hypocrisy?

Never have the words, 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone,' ring more truly.

I wonder how many skeletons rattle in the closet of the people – sorry, men – in the Vatican who will decide his fate.

If the Cardinal does have a lasting legacy, I hope it will be that the Catholic Church reconsiders its stance on marriage and relationships.

How can an institution that excludes its clergy from sexual relations be a moral authority guiding couples and families globally when it's a subject on which those preaching have so little practical comprehension?

To express love physic-ally is a facet of being human. To repress those emotions isn't being true to yourself or to others.

The church's outdated views on contraception and homosexuality read more like the doctrine of a dictator of a small African country than any 21st century religion dedicated to spreading a message about love and community.

I wish organised religions concentrated more on encouraging followers to live a good life, to be kind to fellow man, and ultimately drift off to restful sleep every night with a clear conscience.

I doubt that is something that either Oscar or Keith will ever enjoy again.

Oscar and Cardinal have fallen from pedestals