(Vatican Radio) “We have to constantly re-propose a Christian vision of the dignity
of the person, of the family of the human project as a whole and that isn’t easy”,
says Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop-elect of Glasgow. “It’s all crystallizing
these days around the subject of same-sex marriage and this is expressing the whole
crisis in the relationship of the Church to society”.
Just one day after the
61-year-old native Glaswegian was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to take over the
leadership of Glasgow from retiring Archbishop Mario Conti, the Scottish National
Parliament announced the introduction of legislation permitting same-sex marriages.
When enacted, Scotland could become the first part of the UK to allow same-sex
marriages. The move has been strongly opposed by both the local Catholic Church and
the Church of Scotland.
Archbishop Tartaglia notes: “There are challenges [for
the Church – ed] which are associated with our self presentation to the political
class and to the elite class, which if you like has adopted almost entirely and uncritically
the whole liberal agenda”.
In an interview with Vatican Radio's Christopher
Altieri, he speaks about the challenges as well as the opportunities facing the Church
in Glasgow and Scotland. Listen: