A priest accused of abusing teenage girls in the US was sent to a Scottish monastery after the allegations against him emerged.

Benedict Van der Putten was removed from his priory in California after being accused of "indecent acts" with a 15-year-old girl in 2000.

He was sent on sabbatical to a monastery in Orkney.

Van der Putten, who was also accused of trying to molest a 17-year-old girl, has been named alongside more than 300 others in a report on abuse by Catholic priests in the US.

It reveals a systematic cover-up of child abuse in the state of Pennsylvania dating back decades, according to US prosecutors.

Van der Putten only spent a short time in Scotland before being expelled by his order, the Society of St Pius X, and returning to the US.

He attempted to join a diocese in Pennsylvania in 2001 but was turned away after the allegations against him re-emerged.

According to the grand jury report, Minnesota-born Van der Putten later admitted abusing a 16-year-old girl in an interview with church officials.

He went on to run a website where he advertised his availability for youth camps and conferences and sold masses. He later moved to Hawaii, it is understood.

The scandal which has embroiled the church following the report's publication echoes the turmoil which followed the Boston Globe's Spotlight investigation in 2002.

The Globe found evidence of large-scale abuse and concluded priests had been moved to other parishes after being accused of abuse rather than being reported to police.

Earlier this week, Pope Francis spoke out about the Pennsylvania report.

"We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them," he wrote in a 2000-word letter addressed to Catholics across the world.

"Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such abuses from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated."

The Catholic Church in Scotland has been approached for comment.