The cost of the Pope’s visit will be outweighed by the moral benefits, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien spoke out about his enthusiasm for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, who will arrive at Edinburgh this week.

In a briefing before the Pontiff’s state visit, he also accepted there will be protests, including one in Edinburgh led by the Rev. Ian Paisley.

He hopes the four-day trip, which takes in visits to Edinburgh and Glasgow, will benefit Catholics and people of other faiths.

A spokesman for the Catholic Church said two studies suggested a benefit to the Scottish economy of up to £13 million. The cost to taxpayers will be up to £1 million, the spokesman said. Speaking at the Gillis Pastoral Centre in Edinburgh, Cardinal O’Brien said: “I look on it as being very worthwhile.

“That’s what many people realise as well... the moral value far outweighs any cost value.

“It improves morality in the Catholic Christian community. It will outweigh any fears, any worries, any depression that folk might feel about the cost. I look forward to it very, very positively.”

A delegation from the Free Presbyterian Church will travel to Scotland from Northern Ireland and hold a rally at a church in Rutherglen near Glasgow this evening.

The church said it is opposed to the Papal visit on “financial, constitutional and moral grounds”.

Tomorrow the group, including founder the Rev. Paisley, now Lord Bannside, will hold a service in Edinburgh’s Magdalen Chapel followed by a public protest in the Grassmarket.

Cardinal O’Brien rejected claims that the visit – including a Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow – is being commercialised.

Britain’s Got Talent winner Susan Boyle and 2003 Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus will sing at the Mass tomorrow.

He said: “If you’ve got a good message, and I think we have, there’s no harm in marketing it in the very best possible way.

“We want to get as many people as possible to listen to the Pope’s message, not just specifically members of our Roman Catholic Church.”

He said it was important to keep the thousands of visitors happy, adding: “You have to do something with them, you can’t just have them singing ancient hymns and that sort of thing. “Folk know some of these media stars who are coming volunteered to come.”

He said Pope Benedict XVI will find a more secular country since the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1982.

The cardinal added: “There is even more need to have someone to proclaim the Christian message to those who want to hear it, and for those who don’t want to hear it, fine. That’s according to their conscience.

“But it will be presented to them in a very strong way, I’m sure.”

The cardinal said he did not know what the Pope will choose to discuss, including the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Church.

He added: “I’d be perfectly happy if he did say something here, although I would also say that the number of cases that have cropped up in Scotland as far as I’m aware, whether it’s the Catholic Church or other organisations, is very small compared with other countries of the world. Obviously we’re grateful for that.”

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