William Nolan

William Nolan (born 26 January 1954) is a Scottish prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Archbishop of Glasgow within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow since February 2022. He was previously Bishop of Galloway from 2015 to 2022.

Early life William Nolan was born on 26 January 1954 and baptised in St Patrick’s Church, Craigneuk. He was the fourth of eleven children born to William and Catherine Nolan and has five brothers and five sisters. He attended Cathedral Primary School, Motherwell, St Patrick’s Primary School, Craigneuk, St Vincent’s College, Langbank, and, from 1967 to 1971, St Mary’s College, Blairs.

Ordained ministry Priest Nolan completed his studies for ordination at the Pontifical Scots College, Rome, from 1971 to 1978, earning a licence in sacred theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in June 1978. Despard's refusal to accept his removal produced an extended dispute with Nolan.

Bishop

Pope Francis appointed Nolan on 22 November 2014 to succeed John Cunningham as Bishop of Galloway. Nolan received his episcopal consecration on 14 February 2015 from Leo Cushley. The Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Antonio Mennini and Bishop emeritus Maurice Taylor served as principal co-consecrators. At the time of his appointment, the Galloway diocese had "a troubled history of rebel priests" and Nolan's predecessor had been incapacitated by poor health for several years. Nolan suffered a heart attack in August 2016.

In January 2021 Nolan called upon His Majesty's Government to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and abandon its nuclear arsenal. In May 2021, along with Bishop Paul McAleenan, he criticised the government's plans for asylum-seekers. In 2021 he established a Scotland-wide Care of Creation Office to reflect the priorities of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' and anticipating the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November. He was installed there on 26 February.

He is the president of Justice and Peace Scotland, a national body that advocates on a variety of social issues from climate change to nuclear weapons. Within the Scottish Bishops Conference he heads the Commission on Justice and Peace