An extra bishop has been appointed to help run the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
The Very Reverend Monsignor Stephen Robson was made Auxiliary Bishop to the Archdiocese by Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday.
There has not been an Auxiliary Bishop in the diocese since 1996. They are appointed when the diocesan bishop needs help with the administration of the diocese.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said Cardinal Keith O'Brien needs assistance because of his national and international responsibilities.
Mgr Robson said he felt "great peace and joy" alongside a "great sense of unworthiness" at his appointment.
He completed his ecclesiastical studies at St Andrew's College Drygrange and later studied at the Pontifical Scottish College in Rome. He was ordained as a priest in 1979 for the Archdiocese of Edinburgh and went on to act as Parochial Vicar at St Mary's Kirkcaldy and a pastor at Our Lady and St Margaret in Duns, Dunbar and St John Vianney in Edinburgh.
He was also a tutor at Blairs College and worked in the Department for Religious Education in Edinburgh. From 1998 to 2006 he was spiritual director of the Pontifical Scottish Seminary in Rome.
On returning to Scotland he became Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, and pastor of the united parishes of Our Lady's in North Berwick and Dunbar.
He said: "I have had many interesting and fruitful jobs in our Archdiocese in the past thirty-three years - in parishes, seminaries in Aberdeen and Rome, in the Archdiocesan Education Service, the Chancery, the National Tribunal, the Education Commission. I have been fortunate to work as assistant priest in a parish to Secretary to the Archbishop, from Parish priest to Chancellor. And none of it has been possible without the constant help of the Good Lord and the encouragement of my Superiors - wherever I have been. I have been an academic and, though I also love academia, gladly lay all this aside so that I can be of use to those I am called to serve in the bigger picture."
"My first duty as Auxiliary is to my Archbishop, Cardinal O'Brien and he is no stranger to me. I have known him over 35 years and served him as my Bishop for twenty-seven years. As he reminds me I am his Auxiliary, first and foremost. My second duty is to serve the Priests and then the Faithful and Religious of our Archdiocese in the best way I can. This is impossible without the help of the Good Shepherd, who is the model, inspiration and, more important, the grace and strength working through all Bishops."
He went on to ask for the prayers of his flock.
Cardinal O'Brien said Mgr Stephen was "highly respected" for his "open, friendly and pastoral zeal".
He said: "He combines his very personal manner with his own deep spirituality and academic learning, so that he can bring to bear on a variety of problems an incisive knowledge and an ability at decision-making. I have every hope that he will continue to work well with me and everyone in our Archdiocese in the years which lie ahead as I become ever more aware of my national responsibilities in our country and my responsibilities to Pope Benedict XVI as a Cardinal of our Church."