Scottish Catholic Observer

AN EPISCOPAL bishop from the Highlands said Pope Francis showed ‘the essence of a pastor’ when he met him in Rome last month.

Bishop Mark Strange, of the Moray, Ross, and Caithness Episcopal Diocese, was staying in Rome for a week as he attended an inter-faith conference, where he had the chance encounter with the leader of the world’s estimated 1.2 billion Catholics.

He found himself being taken across St Peter’s Square for the Wednesday papal audience while with a group of delegates.

“On the day there were about 700 of us from the conference,” the bishop said. “As we approached St Peter’s Square, I was held back into a smaller group and then into another smaller group.”

“Then one of the officials said, ‘come with me’ and suddenly I found myself walking out towards the papal platform.”

The bishop was then able to meet the Holy Father, where he told him who he was and where he came from, before they blessed one another and the Pope presented him with a set of Rosary beads.

“My Italian is not good and I suspect his Scots is not brilliant but I was able to say where I was from, and exchange blessings and fraternal greetings before I was gently shepherded away,” he said. “I don’t get starstruck very easily but it was a remarkable moment.

“Put aside all the historical differences, that is the throne of Peter and I am a bishop who is a bishop because of that length of apostolic succession.

“This is the successor of Peter. I was just an Episcopalian Highlander but despite all the formality that surrounded him he made me feel incredibly welcome.

“There was a moment of sincere and genuine enthusiasm in his welcome, which I think we can all learn from.”

Bishop Strange said he had been feeling quite nervous while heading to St Peter’s Square.

“I am quite a shy person, and you’re aware of the differences between Churches; that there are differences, there’s a burden of history,” he said.

“But the reality was very positive and there’s a lesson there about working for Church unity—if you depend on committees and structures you’re going to fail, but when you met people face to face there’s an opportunity for an encounter of love and generosity, which is what I felt in St Peter’s Square.”

Bishop Strange was one of 20 Scottish delegates at the inter-faith conference run by the Focolare movement.

They included representatives from the Catholic Church, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church of Scotland, Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church.