Scotland’s most senior Roman Catholic has said he hopes the Pope will give the Labour Party "hell" when he visits later this year.

The Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, said the Pontiff should tackle ministers over their stance on moral issues.

He said he hoped Pope Benedict XVI would be "very strong" in his views.

His criticism came a day after Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy claimed faith values were at the heart of Labour.

But the Cardinal has revealed to the BBC that he had spoken to Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray about his displeasure at the way church leaders’ views had been "ignored".

He said: "I said to Iain Gray ‘I hope when the Pope does come he’ll be very strong in what he says to you’.

"In fact the words I used were ‘I hope he gives you hell for what has happened over the past 10 years’. "

Cardinal O’Brien said politicians may have listened to what he and other faith leaders have been saying on issues like abortion, euthanasia and fertilisation, but they had not acted on what they had heard.

He said established standards had been pushed aside.

The Cardinal added he was sure that Jim Murphy and other politicians would continue to listen to the views of religious groups on what is best for the country.

But he asked: "Are we going to continue to observe the Christian values which we’ve observed for centuries or ignore them completely and slide into another abyss?"

• Full story at BBC Scotland.

• Filed under Elections, Roman Catholic Church, Scottish Christian News Monitor, Social Policy.