SCOTS Catholics will not be charged to hear the Pope preach when he visits in September. Fears were raised last night after it emerged that English churchgoers face ticket prices of up to £25 when Benedict XVl attends huge open-air services south of the border.
Press reports said there were plans to charge £25 per person at a Mass in Birmingham and £10 a head at a prayer vigil in London's Hyde Park.
But a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "Scottish pilgrims travelling to the papal Mass at Bellahouston Park will not be expected to pay.
"Instead, parishes will be asked to contribute to the overall cost of the event, including transport costs.
"We hope that spreading the costs in this way will ensure that all those who wish to attend can do so, regardless of their means.
"Parishioners who are able to make individual financial contributions can, of course, do so."
The Pope will arrive on September 16.
He will meet the Queen in Edinburgh and parade along Princes Street before preaching to 100,000 in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park.
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