Back الرومانية الكاثوليكية في إسكتلندا Arabic Römisch-katholische Kirche in Schottland German Katolinen kirkko Skotlannissa Finnish Église catholique en Écosse French Gereja Katolik di Skotlandia ID スコットランドのカトリック Japanese 스코틀랜드의 로마 가톨릭교회 Korean Gereja Katolik di Scotland Malay Den katolske kirke i Skottland NB Kościół katolicki w Szkocji Polish
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 Catholic Church in Scotland | |
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 Crucifixion of Saint Andrew, by Juan Correa de Vivar (1540–1545) | |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Orientation | Latin |
| Scripture | Bible |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | BCOS |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| President | Hugh Gilbert |
| Apostolic Nuncio | Miguel Maury Buendía |
| Region | Scotland |
| Language | English, Latin |
| Founder | Saint Ninian, Saint Mungo, Saint Columba |
| Origin | c. 200s: Christianity in Roman Britain c. 400s: Medieval Christianity |
| Separations | Church of Scotland |
| Members | 841,053 (2011)[1] |
| Official website | bcos.org.uk |
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The Catholic Church in Scotland, overseen by the Scottish Bishops' Conference, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church headed by the Pope. Christianity first arrived in Roman Britain and was strengthened by the conversion of the Picts through both the Hiberno-Scottish mission and Iona Abbey. After being firmly established in Scotland for nearly a millennium and contributing enormously to Scottish literature and culture, the Catholic Church was outlawed by the Scottish Reformation Parliament in 1560. Multiple uprisings in the interim failed to reestablish Catholicism or to legalise its existence.[2] Even today, the Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560, while no longer enforced, still remains on the books.
Throughout the nearly three centuries of religious persecution and disenfranchisement between 1560 and 1829,[3][4] many students for the priesthood went abroad to study while others remained in Scotland and, in what is now termed underground education, attended illegal seminaries. An early seminary upon Eilean Bàn in Loch Morar was moved during the Jacobite rising of 1715 and reopened as Scalan seminary in Glenlivet. After multiple arson attacks by government troops, Scalan was rebuilt in the 1760s by Bishop John Geddes, who later became Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District, a close friend of national poet Robert Burns, and a well-known figure in the Edinburgh intelligentsia during the Scottish Enlightenment.
The successful campaign that resulted in Catholic emancipation in 1829 helped Catholics regain both freedom of religion and civil rights. In 1878, the Catholic hierarchy was formally restored.[5] As the Church was slowly rebuilding its presence in the Gàidhealtachd, the bishop and priests of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, inspired by the Irish Land War, became the ringleaders of a direct action resistance campaign by their parishioners to the Highland Clearances, rackrenting, religious discrimination, and other acts widely seen as abuses of power by Anglo-Scottish landlords and their estate factors.
Many Scottish Roman Catholics in the heavily populated Lowlands are the descendants of Irish immigrants and of Scottish Gaelic-speaking migrants from the Highlands and Islands who both moved into Scotland's cities and industrial towns during the 19th century, especially during the Highland Clearances, the Highland Potato Famine, and the similar famine in Ireland. However, there are also significant numbers of Scottish Catholics of Italian, Lithuanian,[6] Ukrainian, and Polish descent, with more recent immigrants again boosting the numbers. Owing to immigration (overwhelmingly white European), it is estimated that, in 2009, there were about 850,000 Catholics in the country of 5.1 million.[7]
The Gàidhealtachd has been both Catholic and Protestant in modern times. A number of Scottish Gaelic-speaking areas, including Barra, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay, and Moidart, are mainly Catholic. For this reason, Catholicism has had a very heavy influence upon Post-Reformation Scottish Gaelic literature and the recent Scottish Gaelic Renaissance; particularly through Iain Lom, Sìleas na Ceapaich, Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, Allan MacDonald, Ailean a' Ridse MacDhòmhnaill, John Lorne Campbell, Margaret Fay Shaw, Dòmhnall Iain Dhonnchaidh, and Angus Peter Campbell.
In the 2011 census, 16% of the population of Scotland described themselves as being Catholic, compared with 32% affiliated with the Church of Scotland.[8] Between 1994 and 2002, Catholic attendance in Scotland declined 19% to just over 200,000.[9] By 2008, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland estimated that 184,283 attended Mass regularly.[10] Mass attendance has not recovered to the numbers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, though there was a dramatic rise between 2022 and 2023.[11]
- ^ "2011 Census: Key Results from Releases 2A to 2D". Scotland's Census.
- ^ William Forbes Leith (1909), Memoirs of Scottish Catholics during the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries. Volume II From Commonwealth to Emancipation, Longman, Green, and Co. 39 Paternoster Row, London. p. 332.
- ^ William Forbes Leith (1909), Memoirs of Scottish Catholics during the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries. Volume I The Reign of King Charles I, Longman, Green, and Co. 39 Paternoster Row, London. pp. 361-381.
- ^ William Forbes Leith (1909), Memoirs of Scottish Catholics during the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries. Volume II From Commonwealth to Emancipation, Longman, Green, and Co. 39 Paternoster Row, London. pp. 393-406.
- ^ Archdiocese of Edinburgh Archived 6 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine www.archdiocese-edinburgh.com. Retrieved 21 February 2009
- ^ "Immigration and Emigration – Scotland – Strathclyde – Lithuanians in Lanarkshire". BBC. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ Andrew Collier "Scotland's confident Catholics" Tablet 10 January 2009, pg. 16
- ^ "Census reveals huge rise in number of non-religious Scots (From Herald Scotland)". Heraldscotland.com. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
- ^ Tad Turski (1 February 2011). "Statistics". Dioceseofaberdeen.org. Archived from the original on 29 November 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ "How many Catholics are there in Britain?". BBC News. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
- ^ Big increase in Mass attendance recorded in Britain, by Bess Twiston Davies, The Tablet, 28 January 2025.
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