Analysis: Socially conservative Catholics care about social justice

WE HAVE become very familiar in recent years with senior Catholics speaking out against government policy on social issues such as gay marriage.

Both London and Edinburgh have at various points been the target of their criticism, as society’s increasing liberal attitude towards same sex relationships clashes with the Church’s distinctly conservative stance.

But yesterday’s attack on the UK coalition by the leader of Scotland’s Catholics had a very different flavour to it. Rather than arguing that the government was being insufficiently conservative, Cardinal Keith O’Brien was arguing it was being insufficiently progressive, showing too little concern for the poor and indeed all those who have lost out as a result of the recession and the financial crisis.

We should not, however, have been surprised by the tone of the cardinal’s remarks. While the Catholic Church might be socially conservative, it also has a long tradition of concern with social justice, particularly in the developing world.

Yet it is unlikely Downing Street will be concerned that Cardinal O’Brien’s remarks will generate a further drop in Conservative standing in the polls. According to Scottish Social Attitudes, only 4 per cent of Scottish Catholics voted Conservative in last year’s Holyrood election.

Even Catholics south of the Border show a distinctive reluctance to vote Tory – only around a quarter did so in 1997, well below the party’s tally of 40 per cent in England as a whole. In truth, Catholic morality and Conservatism have never mixed very well. Cardinal O’Brien’s remarks reflect a long-standing separation rather than herald the prospect of a new political fissure.

• John Curtice is professor of politics at Strathclyde University.