BLOGGING councillor Tim Cheetham is the subject of a holy row after referring to Christians who visited and kissed the relics of a saint as 'slobbering zealots'.

His comment was made after watching a television report about the relics of Catholic Saint Therese of Lisieux which have been displayed at churches across Britain.

The headteacher of a Barnsley Catholic school last night said the phrase used was not befitting of a councillor and was offensive to the Christians of Barnsley.

St Therese is one of the major saints of Catholicism but Christians of other denominations are influenced by her life and writings. Thousands have visited the relics to venerate them and many have kissed the glass casing that protected the casket.

This prompted Coun Cheetham to leave a message on the Twitter website: "With all those slobbering zealots kissing that glass case, I hope it has some mystical power to prevent swine flu." After criticism on another website, he updated his blog under the heading 'In which I am to be burned at the stake for religious intolerance'.

He wrote: "The glass was clearly smeared as a result of the kissing, which would indicate some 'slobber' and 'excessive fanaticism' (the definition of 'zealotry') could easily be implied about the action of kissing a glass box, around another box, containing a bit of the leg of dead nun.

"You are welcome to disagree, that's my view though. It strikes me as a bit 'grisly' or 'macabre' and ever so slightly 'creepy'. I may be making things worse."

Full story in all editions of this week's Chronicle.