Glasgow's Archbishop-Elect William Nolan on the 'scandal' of Trident

Glasgow’s Archbishop-elect, who grew up in East Kilbride, said he was beginning to consider his new role and the particular challenges of the diocese after the initial “shock” of his appointment.

He said sectarianism and its link with Old Firm football was still “very much an issue”, but said there was, at least, a growing awareness that religious intolerance was unacceptable as opposed to “just accepting it as part of west of Scotland culture”.

His predecessor Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, who died in January last year at the age of 70, was vocal in his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Bishop Nolan, 68, said the Catholic Church had “a particular understanding of human sexuality”, but said all of society had a duty to promote compassion and tolerance.

He described the immigration bill going through Westminster as “not acceptable at all” given that the UK was a “massive builder and exporter” of the weapons of war that lead to people being displaced from their countries of origin.

He will become Archbishop during a ceremony at St Andrew’s Cathedral on February 26 when the papal bull will be read aloud and “shown” to the congregation, officiating his new role.

READ MORE: Pope Francis appoints new Archbishop to lead Scotland's largest Catholic community 

“I’m now beginning to get my thoughts to what lies ahead,” said the Archbishop-elect, who lives in Ayr, having served as Bishop of Galloway for seven years.

He said Glasgow was “on a different” scale to other dioceses in terms of the challenges it faces.

“When I come into Glasgow, what always strikes me is the number of beggars on the street. It’s degrading to our humanity that people have to beg and the poverty that Glasgow has always faced which is only going to get worse as prices go up.”

He said the city had always welcomed asylum seekers but added: “It’s not a very welcoming regime. Churches have to speak out and Pope Francis has taken the lead there. He said it’s about recognising people in need and we have to welcome them with open arms.

“I’ve been to Calais, a few years ago, and I met asylum seekers there and when you hear their stories you feel so sad and sorry for them.

“They are looking for a better life. We are all looking for a better life. Many people left Scotland in search of a better life. Making it tougher to get into the country doesn’t solve the problem. 

“When you look at the underlying global situation, back in 2010, the United Nations said there were 40 million displaced people in the world. Now there are over 80 million and that’s due to wars and conflicts.

He added: “We have to start looking at our own responsibility for that. Who is supplying all these weapons and arms? The United Kingdom is a major arms manufacturer and exporter.”

He said he had taken part in prayer meetings at the Faslane naval base a few times with the Scottish Christians Against Nuclear Arms group.

He said: “When I go to various conferences on this, Scotland is held up as a leading light, mainly because the Bishops of Scotland made a statement 40 years ago challenging nuclear deterrents at that time.

READ MORE: Former Pope Benedict criticised over handling of abuse cases

“Of course, in Scotland the political establishment is generally against nuclear weapons. When you think about the money that’s being spent, it’s costing the UK about £4 billion or £5bn a year just to maintain nuclear deterrents.

“We are spending money renewing and upgrading weapons. That really is a scandal. We don’t spend as much money on peace-building.”

He said he is not a football fan but, like most people, recognised there were “particular problems” in the west of Scotland.

“When I was growing up in East Kilbride, I remember Rangers beat Celtic and the score was written up on a wall. Having grown up as a Catholic in the west of Scotland, to some extent we just accepted it as part of the culture.

“When I was growing up they would ask ‘what school did you go to?’ which was always a dangerous question to answer. 

“It’s a pity because obviously football is one of Scotland’s strengths. We don’t take sectarianism into our national game but it’s still very much an issue here.

“We are beginning to realise that it is really not acceptable. It’s still ingrained in society. Thankfully among church leaders there is much more harmony, friendship even.”

Bishop Nolan said there was an “aged divide” on issues such as gender recognition laws.

He added: “You have to listen to people to understand where they are coming from and not jump in and condemn. That tolerance should be there. At the same time, the Church has a particular understanding of human sexuality which we try to promote but it has to be done in a very charitable way.”

On the child abuse scandals that have dogged the Catholic Church and other religious orders and organisations, he said there was now an appreciation that the problem “runs deep”. 

Bishop Nolan said: “Hopefully survivors will now be listened to.”

He acknowledged that the Church faced challenges in attracting younger people to mass.

READ MORE: Pope Francis condemns 'infodemic' of fake news about Covid and vaccines

 “You’ve got an ageing mass population and an ageing clergy. When you have an elderly population attending mass, it’s not going to attract the younger population,” he explained.

“There are committed young people and our hope is to engage those young people as youth leaders.”

The UK has six Catholic seminaries training priests but there are none in Scotland.

The Archbishop-elect said he recalls wanting to become a priest “from the age of six”.

He went to a junior seminary, then onto Blairs College in Aberdeenshire.

“A number of the more recent vocations we are getting are coming from young people who are moving onto university.

“If you don’t have a large number of young people regularly coming to church, then the pool of people who are coming into the priesthood is diminished.”