Scotland’s Catholic Church was savaged by children's rights campaigners for opposing a ban on smacking. A top church official said plans to outlaw the physical punishment of children would ‘criminalise parents’, and it is not the role of the state to interfere in parenting. Scotland's children and young people's commissioner, Bruce Adamson, said that many nations with Catholic majorities - such as Ireland, Spain and Portugal - had already outlawed hitting children. Green MSP John Finnie, who introduced the ‘ban smacking’ bill, said the church is out of step with international opinion, adding, ‘Smacking is banned in the Pope’s home country Argentina’. The SNP government confirmed that the bill will become law.