The Scottish bishop mgr. Joseph Devine of the diocese of Motherwell, just out of Glasgow, wrote a letter to the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, asking him to fix a specific date for repealing the “Act of Settlement”, the 1700 rule that prevents any Catholic to be appointed king of the United Kingdom and forbids the heir to the throne to marry a Catholic woman. The campaign for the repeal of the act is supported by the Bishops Conferences of England, Wales and Scotland and by the Scottish Parliament. According to the bishop, Gordon Brown, who is a practising Christian in the Scottish Presbyterian Church, had meant to change the legislation just after his appointment. He changed his mind, states the bishop, because he is lobbied by “virulent anti-Catholic opponents”. In his letter, mgr. Devine uses very strong language, reminding the Prime Minister that with his change of plan he breaks his Christian beliefs and his scale of values, but above all that he fails the five million Catholics who look to the Prime Minister to see their equality with citizens of other religions guaranteed.
