Scottish Catholic Observer

This week alone the Italian government was taking no chances over the possibility of an Islamic State terror attack against Pope Francis, even though the Vatican has previously played down threats; the Holy See to UN has called for ‘concrete steps’ to stop persecution in Iraq; Israeli Church leaders have voiced fears over a government takeover of Catholic schools and Ukraine’s Catholic Primate has appealed to the world’s religious and political leaders ‘on the very difficult situation in Ukraine.

That said, if the Holy Father had waited for a more peaceful time to call on sporting celebrities to take a stand for peace and religious freedom, we wouldn’t actually need them to.

By the same token, any questions over the timing of Scotland’s archbishops’ statements on the independence referendum are redundant. So close to the historic ballot, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow and Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh realise the majority of Catholic voters have already heard both sides of the argument. The archbishops’ calls for voters’ prayer for guidance and participation in the democratic process of deciding Scotland’s future are non partisan, appropriate and timely indeed without them being dragged into the widening divide between polarising positions. With all the noise, opinion and, let’s be honest, propaganda, it is time to listen to a higher power.

Archbishop Tartaglia says: “I encourage and urge all those eligible to vote to do so with complete freedom of choice and in accordance with their prayerful judgment of what is best for the future.”

“We are also concerned for the rights of all people, to freedom of conscience and to the right to believe and to practise their faith,” Archbishop Cushley believes. “These freedoms are as important as they are fragile.”

They both echo a call for Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS). The independence referendum comes at a point after nine of the Christian churches in Scotland have been praying and working together, for years, as ACTS.

“Churches in the other nations [in the UK] will now be praying for peace for Scotland and for the guidance of the Spirit of God for those who take decisions for Scotland’s future,” Sr Elizabeth Moran from ACTS added when speaking to the SCO this week. (To read ACTS article, click here http://sconews.co.uk/news/39746/churches-together-looks-at-the-referendum/.)