Mario Joseph Conti (20 March 1934 – 8 November 2022) was a Scottish Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of the Metropolitan see of Glasgow, Scotland between 2002 and his retirement in 2012.
He studied for the priesthood at The Scots College, Rome[3] and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Aberdeen in the Church of San Marcello al Corso, by Archbishop Luigi Traglia on 26 October 1958.
The Liberal Democrats MP for Gordon, Malcolm Bruce, called on the church to apologise to Sister Marie's victims, but Conti resisted any public apology.
The Cathedral now boasts new flooring, new heating and sound systems, new seating, new altar and ambo (designed by the Archbishop himself) and an iconic painting of St John Ogilvie by acclaimed Scottish painter Peter Howson.
In 2004, he accused the BBC of "rudeness and prejudice" in its coverage of the Catholic Church and of "gross insensitivity" at the time of Pope John Paul II's silver jubilee.
He said that the 25th anniversary of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II and the beatification of Mother Teresa had been marked with a documentary entitled Sex and the Holy City, which looked at the effectiveness of condoms in the fight against AIDS.
He also questioned the plans to broadcast a cartoon called Popetown, which satirised the Pope as a childish pensioner and he accused Newsnight Scotland of conducting a "sneering and aggressive" interview on the church's position on shared campus schools.
[10] In 2006 Conti publicly voiced his views on the case of nine Scottish firefighters who had been disciplined for refusing to take part in a gay pride event, saying it was wrong to expect them to participate.
After Patrick Harvie (a Green MSP and advocate of LGBT equality) heard about the Archbishop's sermon, he wrote to the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police asking for the Force to give clarity regarding the criteria for using breach of the peace charges in relation to comments which might be seen to incite hatred on grounds of sexual orientation.
[13][14] In October 2010, he sent a public letter to all Scottish parishes urging Catholic parishioners to oppose Government plans to give gay couples the right to marry.
[17] Conti argued that, "I personally, and many others in the Catholic community, admired the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi on grounds of compassion which is, after all, one of the principles inscribed on the mace of the Scottish Parliament by which Scotland's government should operate."
The Archbishop wrote an article urging action to defend the asylum seekers at risk (Sunday Herald 10 June 2012) and backed a public demonstration to protest at the asylum seekers' eviction: "It seems 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.