ONE of the Vatican's leading figures is to visit Scotland this weekend for a series of events, including a lecture on Catholic education.
Archbishop Gerhard Muller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will also speak to the nation's Catholic clerics at an event in Motherwell Cathedral, as well as saying mass in St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow.
Archbishop Muller's role is essentially the Vatican's chief guardian of church teaching and he arrives in Scotland fresh from celebrating mass with Pope Francis in Rome this week.
However, sources have moved to quell speculation his visit is timed to coincide with major announcements by the church on the appointment of bishops.
One of the 65-year-old German's officials is Father Patrick Burke, often touted for one of the vacancies in Scotland. However, sources claim any announcement on new bishops in Scotland will come directly from Rome and could be made on Tuesday.
Following the Papal Nuncio's statement recently the vacant position of Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, vacated by shamed Cardinal Keith O'Brien following sexual revelations, will be filled by the end of this month.
Leo Cushley, a Vatican diplomat originally from Uddingston in Lanarkshire, is tipped to take the job. The vacant posts at Dunkeld and Paisley are also due to be filled in the coming months.
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