Pope receives Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

13 Nov 2023

On Saturday 4 November 2023, Pope Francis received the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Sally Foster-Fulton. The Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian church, and a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The Moderator, who is elected for one year only, presides over the annual General Assembly, the church’s governing body, and is the principal public representative of the church during her year in office.

Following years of tension, relations between Presbyterians and Catholics in Scotland have become much closer in recent years. This was recognised in the signing of a formal Declaration of Friendship between the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church in Scotland in 2022. The declaration recognises the churches’ sometimes troubled past, recognising “the hurt and the harm that our forebears did to each other in times past, and [repenting] and [asking] forgiveness of one another”. It commits them “to live as sisters and brothers in Christ, in public and in private, in life and in mission; to pray with each other and for each other; to be good neighbours, both to each other and to all people among whom we live, of all faiths and none; and to work together for the common good of the nation, as it is given to us to see it”.

The Moderator was accompanied during the visit by her husband, Stuart, who is also an ordained minister; as well as by the Revd Ian Alexander, International Partnerships Officer for the Church of Scotland; Revd Tara Curlewis, newly-appointed Minister of the Church of Scotland congregation in Rome; and Ms Fiona Kendal of the migrants and refugees agency of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy. Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Fr Martin Browne OSB, Official of the Western Section, also participated.