Church apology for Bishop comments

THE Catholic Church has apologised for comments made by a senior leader about late Inverclyde MP David Cairns. 

It has emerged that during a religious conference held in April, the Bishop of Paisley, Philip Tartaglia - who has just been announced as the next Archbishop of Glasgow - made controversial remarks about the death of Mr Cairns who passed away last year at the age of 44 from acute pancreatitis.

The churchman has been criticised for appearing to link Mr Cairns's death to his sexuality, with his comments slammed by the MP's partner Dermot Kehoe.

But the Scottish Catholic Church insists the remarks had been 'taken out of context'.

A spokesman said: "They were made in answer to an audience question at a lecture he gave on religious freedom in Oxford 14 weeks ago. He had no previous knowledge of the question, which was not related to his speech. In his reply he mentioned a situation he had been closely involved in, namely the funeral arrangements for the late David Cairns. The Archbishop knew David Cairns, met him regularly at events in Inverclyde, and was personally involved in his funeral arrangements. He is sorry for any hurt which has resulted, there was certainly no offence or judgement intended in his words."