It comes as no surprise that the leader of the Scottish National Party, Nicola Sturgeon, should have called for a new referendum on the issue of independence and that the prime minister, Boris Johnson, should promptly have said no. This issue will not be resolved soon, but it could gain fresh traction if the next general election results in the SNP holding the balance of power in Westminster.
The last referendum in 2014 was a rancorous affair. In some cases, Catholic clergy were open in expressing pro-independence sympathies. Afterwards, when the referendum was defeated, the Church was less visible and vocal than it should have been in reconciling the two sides. This must not happen again. The Church does have a role in politics, but it emphatically does not have a party-political identity in respect of this divisive question. The role of the clergy is to unite communities, not to divide them. Scotland has a proud Catholic past and the Scottish Church has a strong and distinct Catholic identity, but this does not translate into support for one side on this vexed issue.
