A former Moderator of the General Assembly has been awarded one of the highest honours in the Roman Catholic Church for her work to build good relationships among churches in Scotland.

In a historic first Very Rev Dr Sheilagh Kesting has been invested as a Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Pope Francis.

The award, in recognition of her many years of ecumenical work, is seen as a tangible sign of the good relations between the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church.

It is the equivalent of the papal "knighthood" awarded to men. Sir Tom Farmer is one recipient in Scotland of this rare honour.

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Dr Kesting is the first Church of Scotland minister to receive the award and the Roman Catholic Church says it has only been awarded once before to a non-Catholic woman in the United Kingdom.

The Herald:

Dr Kesting was invested as a Dame of the Order of St Gregory by Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh in the presence of the Catholic bishops of Scotland.

The award came as a complete surprise to Dr Kesting who only knew she had been invited to a small dinner at the Archbishop’s residence in Edinburgh to celebrate her retirement.

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Archbishop Cushley presented Dr Kesting with a declaration and three different sizes of lapel decorations representing the Order of St Gregory the Great.

He said: "I have the honour to tell you about a little secret.

"A few months ago when we learned of your retirement we thought we ought to mark it and we thought this would be a nice thing to do.

“So we wrote to the Pope and we asked him if we could have a papal decoration for you and he said yes.

"So this is from Pope Francis and it is a declaration making you a Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great.

“We wish you all the very best in your retirement,” he added. “And we thank you for all you have done to promote better relations among the churches, especially with ourselves.”

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Dr Kesting said she was so surprised she was initially speechless.

She said: "I am absolutely overwhelmed. It is just astonishing and unbelievable and it is a tremendous privilege.

“I am delighted that the relationship between our two Churches has become strong enough that this kind of acknowledgement can be given from one to the other, and it means so much that it comes from Pope Francis.

“We have been watching this new Pope with tremendous interest and excitement about the things that he is saying and the encouragement that he is giving to ecumenical relations. So to have this honour from Pope Francis just adds to its significance. It is wonderful."

Dr Kesting, who grew up in Stornoway, spent 23 years as the Kirk’s Ecumenical Officer. She was named Moderator in 2007. She was invested as a Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great on Sunday 6 November by Archbishop Leo Cushley.

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David Waterton-Anderson of the UK Association of Papal Honours said: “It is a very, very high honour and a very rare thing for a non-Catholic to receive the Order of St Gregory the Great. And this honour is something she can be really proud of because it is not political, but only given for good works.”

He said Lady Hazel Sternberg, who died in 2014, is the only other non-Catholic woman in the UK he believes to have been invested as a Dame of the Order of St Gregory.

The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St Gregory the Great was established in 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI.

It is given to recipients “in recognition of their personal service to the Holy See and to the Roman Catholic Church, through their unusual labours, their support of the Holy See, and their excellent examples set forth in their communities and their countries.”

Dr Kesting is now permitted to style herself as Dame Sheilagh Kesting DSG.

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