The former Metropolitan Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti has died aged 88.
The Archdiocese of Glasgow confirmed that Archbishop Conti died in the city’s Queen Elizabeth hospital on 8 November after a short illness. He served as a priest for 64 years, 45 of those as a bishop. He was Bishop of Aberdeen from 1977 to 2002, and then Archbishop of Glasgow until 2012.
The President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen, said that it was “difficult to remember a time when [Archbishop Conti] wasn’t an active or retired member of the Bishops’ Conference”.
“His interest in and knowledge of Scotland's Catholic history was well known and his commitment to preserving the cultural heritage of the church was unwavering,” he said.
Bishop Gilbert served under Conti during his quarter century serving the Church in his native north-east. Bishop Gilbert noted Archbishop Conti’s strong ties to his former diocese, which he left in 2002 to succeed Cardinal Thomas Winning as Archbishop of Glasgow.
He retired in 2012 and was succeeded by the late Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, who died last year. The current Archbishop of Glasgow, William Nolan, described Archbishop Conti as “a much-loved figure, a man of great energy and pastoral zeal, who loved the Church and loved the people in his care”.
“When I was appointed archbishop earlier this year, I found him both gracious and welcoming and full of ideas and suggestions for the future.”
In his retirement, said Bishop Gilbert, Archbishop Conti “was a source of great wisdom and pastoral support to his successors both in Glasgow and Aberdeen”.
“His work in ecumenism and interfaith matters as well as his affection for the Italian community in Scotland were among his defining characteristics.”
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr Iain Greenshields, offered his condolences to the late archbishop’s family and the wider Church.
“Archbishop Conti,” he added, “made an outstanding contribution to ecumenism within Scotland and internationally and we recall this with gratitude.”
Mario Joseph Conti was born in Elgin in north-east Scotland in March 1935 to Scots Italian parents. He studied at St Mary’s College in Blairs, Aberdeenshire and at the Scots College in Rome, and was ordained in Rome on 26 October 1958, aged 23.
After serving as assistant priest at St Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen, in 1962 he was appointed to the most northerly parish on the mainland United Kingdom, the combined churches of Thurso and Wick in Caithness. He served as parish priest there until 1977, when he was appointed Bishop of Aberdeen in February 1977. He was one of the last surviving episcopal appointments of St Paul VI.
Translated to the See of Glasgow in 2002, he was a prominent figure in the city and in Scottish public life.
He opposed the extension of gay rights during his decade as archbishop, objecting to the Civil Partnerships (Scotland) Bill in 2006 and the introduction of gay marriage in 2010, and had a fractious relationship with the BBC and the Scottish press. He said they were prejudiced in their coverage of the Catholic Church, blaming a “tabloid culture” and sensationalism.
He supported the release in 2009 of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, imprisoned for his role in the Lockerbie bombing, on the grounds of compassion.
“The showing of mercy in any situation is not a sign of weakness,” said Archbishop Conti. “Indeed in this situation, with the pressures and circumstances of the case, it seemed to me a sign of manifest strength.”
In 2012 he made a vocal intervention in defence of asylum seekers facing destitution. He wrote in Scotland’s Sunday Herald that it seemed “utterly inconceivable that a country with such strong traditions of welfare provision, fairness and social cohesion could allow innocent persons to be evicted, banned from working, left without food and shelter, and effectively eliminated from society”.
“But that is exactly what is likely to happen – unless something is done.”
In 2010 he welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to the first public Mass of his state visit, at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow.
Archbishop Conti also oversaw the £5 million restoration programme to St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow between 2009 and 2011, the most significant modern renovation of Scotland’s Catholic patrimony.
The cathedral will receive his remains with a Sung Vespers on Thursday 17 November at 7pm, and a Requiem Mass will follow on Friday at 12 noon.
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