Religious service

This weekend witnessed the consecration ceremony of the new Roman Catholic Archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews and a pro-Scottish independence rally – both events in Edinburgh.

The appointment of the replacement for Cardinal Keith O’Brien, now in exile or seclusion, was made by the hierarchy in Rome and the future prospects of the new appointee will also be in the hands of the Pope and his advisers.

Members of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland who are supporters of an independent Scotland must find themselves in a conflicted situation when they allow themselves to continue as members of a centralised international religious organisation headquartered in Rome that does not even grant devolution to its members in Scotland to govern their own affairs.

The solution would seem to be for nationalist members of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland to switch to the Church of Scotland. It is a self-governing national church and it acknowledges no political authority outside the borders of the UK.

Norman Bonney

Palmerston Place

Edinburgh