Scots deserve a "Christmas ceasefire" in the battle against Covid to allow families to enjoy festive gatherings, a senior bishop has said.
It comes just days after the Scottish Government's clinical director warned the public to prepare for a "digital Christmas" which could see large indoor gatherings banned in December.
John Kennan - who is the head of the diocese in Paisley and a senior figure in the Catholic church - has called for SNP ministers to offer the prospect of a temporary lifting of restrictions.
He argues it would provide Scots with hope in the dark winter months of lockdown that could lie ahead, with older people particularly likely to suffer from isolation over the Christmas season.
"Hope is perhaps the most precious commodity we possess," Bishop Keenan wrote in a column in the Sunday Times.
"Without it we will fail to combat this pandemic, we will fail to care for ourselves and for others and we will fail to build a future for the next generation growing up in the midst of fear.
"Perhaps we should consider a Christmas 'circuit breaker'. A 24-hour lifting of restrictions on gatherings and celebrations, a break in the war on Covid, just like the pause in the First World War on the Western Front in 1914, when the British and German troops laid down their guns and met in no man's land to celebrate Christmas.
"Couldn't we allow for one day of normality in the midst of our relentless war against the virus? Think of the hope and happiness that would give. A moment of joy in the midst of so much despair."
Clinical director Jason Leitch had last week warned: “I’m hopeful costs now may get us a more family Christmas. But Christmas is not going to be normal, absolutely no question about that.”
He added: “We’re not going to be in large family groupings with multiple families coming round that is fiction for this year."
"But I’m hopeful that if we can get numbers down to a certain level we may be able to get some form of normality. But people should get their digital Christmas ready.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Decisions on whether to introduce additional protective measures will continue to be guided by the latest available scientific and clinical evidence and informed by a balanced ‘four harms’ assessment.
"We understand that people will naturally be anxious about whether they will be able to visit relatives over the festive period.
“The new levels approach we announced this week, if approved by the Scottish Parliament, will enable us to adapt our response to coronavirus more effectively.
"The more we do now to suppress transmission of the virus, the more likely we will have fewer restrictions in place at Christmas.
"However, given the rapidly changing nature of the pandemic it is simply not possible to predict at this stage what restrictions may or may not be required over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.”
