The Catholic Church in Scotland has called on the Scottish Football Association to sack the head of referee development if it is proved he sent an offensive email about the Pope.
The SFA is investigating reports that Hugh Dallas used his work email account to forward on a “tasteless message” relating to the pontiff’s visit to Glasgow in September.
SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said earlier this month the matter was being dealt with internally.
Director of the Catholic Media Office, Peter Kearney, said today the body must act quickly to maintain its integrity.
In a letter to Mr Regan, he wrote: “I am writing to you to express my concern at an allegation made recently against a senior official of the SFA, Mr Hugh Dallas, the Head of Referee development.
“He has been accused of sending an email from his SFA email account on the day of the Pope’s visit to Scotland, which was totally unprofessional, gratuitously insulting to the Pope, deeply offensive to the Catholic community of Scotland, and an incitement to anti-Catholic sectarianism.”
Mr Kearney asked that the results of the internal investigation be made public and if the allegations are proven that Mr Dallas be “removed from his post”.
Mr Regan said in a statement on November 10th: “I can confirm I have looked into the circulation of the email reported in the media at the weekend.
“Let me state categorically that I do not condone the transmission of any email content that might cause offence to anyone.
“I have spoken with staff and the matter will now be dealt with internally, in line with the Scottish FA’s Information Systems Acceptable Use Policy.”