The Rt Rev David Konstant

The Rt Rev David Konstant, who has died aged 86, was a prominent member of the English Roman Catholic hierarchy for 27 years, more than 18 of them as Bishop of Leeds.

The sobriquet “dangerous liberal” was used about him in 1996 when Konstant produced a document on behalf of the Catholic hierarchy of England and Wales entitled The Common

Good. Designed to prepare the faithful for the coming general election, it sold more copies than any other Catholic report.

In 1995 he condemned the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful, describing it as “one of the most dreadful, even unintentionally wicked, commentaries on society.” Konstant railed especially against the third verse, with its reference to “The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate”, even though the controversial lines had, in fact, been removed from most hymn books many years before. Born June 16 1930, died October 9 2016