SCOTLAND
BBC News
By Robert Pigott
Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News
At first glance the retirement after more than three decades of service of Joseph Devine as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Motherwell is a routine event.
Bishop Devine tendered his resignation last year, in line with Church convention, at the age of 75.
But his replacement by an administrator, appointed by the Vatican, rather than a permanent replacement is the latest sign that all is not well in the Scottish Catholic Church.
Bishop Devine has stayed in post, despite ill health, for 10 months beyond his 75th birthday, and might have expected to hand over to a younger successor with the calibre to lead a diocese in challenging times.
Instead a fourth vacancy has been created in a church with only eight dioceses.
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