Addressing Scotland's Catholic Bishops in Rome today, the Pope has confirmed he will travel to Scotland later this year as part of his UK visit. Responding to an address by Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the Pope said; "Later this year, I shall have the joy of being present with you and the Catholics of Scotland on your native soil."

Scotland’s Catholic Bishops will travel to Rome from 3 – 10 February 2010 for their “Ad Limina”, five-yearly visit to the Holy See. (The full term is Ad Limina Apostolorum, which means literally “To the thresholds of the Apostles”. The bishops visit the tombs of the Apostles and present a Five-Yearly Report to the Holy Father on the state of their dioceses)
 

Justice & Peace Letter for the Feast of the Epiphany 2010
From Bishop Peter Moran, President of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland

 

In the course of the past 12 months Scotland has celebrated a "Year of Homecoming" culminating in a wide variety of celebrations on St. Andrew's Day. Our homecoming year has seen ex-patriot Scots and many thousands of members of the Scottish Diaspora "come home". We have been glad to welcome them and hope they will return.

In an article published today, Cardinal Keith O'Brien will call on Scots to learn more about their patron, St. Andrew whose feast day will be celebrated tomorrow, 30 November.

Being Catholic.org is a new website which is designed to promote Catholic adult education in Scotland.  It is provided as a free resource by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.

Following recent news reports of a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the UK in 2010,
Cardinal O’Brien, President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland has made the following statement;

A joint initiative between the Catholic Church in Scotland and ISYS
Computer Services a Glasgow based IT company will be launched next week urging
all of Scotland's 500 parishes to go online.

Following the controversy which has marked the release of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing on grounds of compassion, Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow released the following statement:
 
"I personally, and many others in the Catholic community admired the decision to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on grounds of compassion which is, after all, one of the principles inscribed on the mace of the Scottish Parliament by which Scotland’s Government should operate.

In an article in today's Times newspaper, Cardinal Keith O'Brien will describe the Trident weapons system as a "weapon of mass destruction" and argue that possessing it is "morally reprehensible".