Scottish Catholic Observer

Cardinal O’Brien of St Andrew’s and Edinburgh has lead his fellow bishops

in reacting to the arrival of the Pope on Scottish shores.

The Cardinal said had been a “very exciting” day already and that the Holy Father

appeared to be in “excellent form”.

“Along Princes Street I really felt so proud. You could look to one side and

see the backcloth of the Castle and the ramparts and so on, and on the other

side a sea of faces, and just welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to our country,” he continued.

“The Pope is a wonderful warm friendly character, radiating a certain calm and

a certain peace from him, and the respect which was being shown him, and just the

love that was radiating to him from the people who were lining along Princes Street.

I think that he’s aware of all that has been done to make him so welcome from everybody in our country, from the First Minister in the Scottish Government down to the

smallest school child.”

Bishop John Cunningham, ­ Bishop of Galloway, said it was a very important day.

“I feel it’s something important for me,” he said. “It’s quite different when it’s in

your own country and specific to your own people and your own language. To

have it there face to face is a wonderful experience. All the hard work that

had to go in advance, it becomes worthwhile when you actually see it coming

to fruition.”

Bishop Joe Toal, ­ Bishop of Argyle and the Isles, said he was very happy

to have Pope Benedict here.

“I’m delighted to have him here and to make him feel that this is a country

which appreciates his presence, appreciates the effort he has made as an

elderly man to come to us and to be and to give us such a an opportunity to

celebrate together our Catholic faith and our Christian heritage,” he said.

Bishop Peter Moran, ­ Bishop of Aberdeen, said that the Pope would address problems

facing Scottish Catholics.

“One of the problems, obviously is, that we are a country where Catholics

are very much in the minority,” he said. “And in the Diocese of Aberdeen that’s even

more obvious than in most of the other areas of Scotland. The problem is how

to be Christian in a country which is secular. I¹m sure the Pope will have

something to say on that.”

Bishop Joe Devine, Bishop of Motherwell, said he never though he would say this day,

but was delighted it was here.

” Given his age and the fact that he’s got to be very careful in marshalling his energy,

I mean the man is well into his eighties now, it’s a kind of miracle that he has decided to  make this visit,” he said.”And the most astonishing thing of all is he actually

arrives in Scotland on the Feast of St Ninian, today the Feast of Ninian our

prime Apostle. So it’s absolutely wonderful that he is coming at this time.”