THE former Catholic church in Aberystwyth “will not be reopened” and the matter is “settled”, the Vatican has said.

Parishioners have led a campaign to reverse a 2012 decision to close St Winefride’s church on Queen’s Road and have petitioned against a plan that will see a church in Penparcau renovated for use by parishioners instead.

But the Pope and the Cardinals in the Vatican have said they are “satisfied” with plans to renovate the Welsh Martyrs church at a cost of £360,000 and leave St Winefride’s closed.

Bishop Thomas Burns has said that protests have “proved to be a waste of time, effort and money” and that any further protests would be “reprehensible” following the judgement of the Vatican.

In a letter to two protesting parishioners, the Vatican said that while it had been a “painful decision”, the “question is settled and will not be reopened”.

“The Diocesan Bishop has now fully explained his proposals to provide a parish church by the end of the year and I can confirm that this congregation is satisfied with those proposals,” the letter added.

Bishop Burns said that the Cardinal heading up the Congregation for Clergy, His Eminence Cardinal Beniamino Stella, “with the full authority of the Holy Father”, has rejected parishioners’ petitions, “without exception or reservation”.

“There have been three major recourses to Rome already. Each has been rejected, and proved to be a waste of time, effort and money. No means no, not maybe. It is a definitive no, and Rome has now told us that it will not be reversed," he said.

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