Scottish Catholic Observer

Five men arrested yesterday in Northern Ireland in connection with the murder of Catholic police officer Ronan Kerr (above) are being held under Terrorism Act.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/26/suspected-ronan-kerr-killers-custody

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic nuncio to US, is critically ill after major lung surgery.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-ci-papal-delegate-ill-20110727,0,4607111.story

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, presided at a funeral Mass for Cardinal Virgilio Noe yesterday at the altar of the Cathedra in the Vatican Basilica.

http://www.news.va/en/news/funeral-mass-for-cardinal-virgilio-noe

SECTARIANISM SPECIAL REPORTS

Part 1: Michael McGrath, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, tells STV’s political editor, Bernard Ponsonby: “It is a blight on Scotland that to be Catholic makes you more vulnerable to attack, aggression, violence.” (Plus video).

http://news.stv.tv/politics/263810-sectarianism-special-report-bernard-ponsonby-reflects-on-the-roots-of-scotlands-shame/

Part 2: If the Old Firm were abolished, would sectarianism die out in Scotland? In the second of a series of reports, STV’s political editor Bernard Ponsonby looks at the dynamic of football as a magnet for intolerance. (Plus video)

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-central/263881-sectarianism-special-report-if-the-old-firm-were-abolished-would-sectarianism-die-out-in-scotland/

COMMENT

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun denounces the ‘ridiculous’ efforts by the Chinese government to exert control over the Catholic Church.

http://www.ucanews.com/2011/07/26/the-atheists-running-the-catholic-church/

AND FINALLY

Pope Benedict XVI joins celebrity charity art auction for Darfur.

http://www.looktothestars.org/news/6676-the-pope-joins-celebrity-charity-art-auction-for-darfur#ixzz1TFssBjah

-Cross Wires is the Scottish Catholic Observer blog