BILLY Connolly, 72, who was brought up a Catholic, turned his back on Christianity, some fifty years ago.
But recent events have caused him to return to the arms of the church.
The death of his close friend Robin Williams, followed by the death of his sister Florence Dickson, plus his own battles with prostate cancer and Parkinson’s Disease, have left a void that Connolly partly fills by attending church.
"I don't go and pray, I go and light a candle for him,” he says, referring to Williams.
"And my sister died a couple of weeks ago, so I light two candles.
"It really appeals to me, the flame burning when you leave the building.”
But he told The Scotsman that he still reviles the Catholic Church. In the past he has accused it of "brainwashing" people, and it seems that his position has not softened. He said: "I don't have any relationship with Catholicism any more.
"I don't adhere to it. I don't want to sound prudish and say that I don't approve of it, but I don't.
"I find it primitive and frightening and I find the whole child molestation on an international scale a disgrace that should be a United Nations cause.
"So I have a deep distrust and dislike of the Catholic Church and any other organisation that brainwashes people." Connolly has also blamed the Catholic Church's opposition to divorce for his childhood abuse.
He said that his father William did not seek a divorce after his mother walked out because of his Catholic beliefs.
So instead he turned his sexual attentions to his son instead.
Connolly’s grandfather was an Irish immigrant, and his mother’s family (McGowan and Doyle), who were Catholics from the west of Scotland, had Irish roots.
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