It would amount to the "State-sponsored sexual abuse of minors", he said. Strong stuff.
He is also against the distribution of contraceptives to teenagers without parental consent. At which point those who know nothing about the proposals, which are not yet published, might wonder at these widely different activities being linked.
The Glasgow University academic who chaired the working group, Professor Phil Hanlon, was left scratching his head. He told The Scotsman that Cardinal O'Brien would know from reading the report that the group was not in favour of showing explicit material to toddlers. "It's weird if he doesn't," he said. "Does he really think a group of responsible people would want to show graphic and lurid sexual material to pre-school children?"
The Catholic Church's own representative on the working party was likewise bemused. Father Joe Chambers said: "We didn't really look at nursery school children."
Can the moves to provide much-needed sexual health services for young people in Scotland survive a high-level moral panic about non-existent plans?
The Times wondered if it might be possible to get good physical exercise from playing computer games. It ran some tests with teenagers to find out.
And they're off for the 100m sprint. Rob, 16, and James, 15, are on the sensor-filled mat, feet hammering, running on the spot. The faster they run, the faster they go on the computer screen. Neat eh? By the time Rob had run a couple of races, his heart rate had shot up from 75 beats per minute to 186 bpm. That's 91 per cent of his maximum heart rate and well into the vigorous activity category, says a well-pleased journalist.
She was similarly impressed with a game that links PlayStation2 to a video camera, allowing young people's moving images to appear on screen and interact with the game. The group played kung fu, where they punched, kicked or head-butted "a relentless wave of martial art opponents".
Can virtual reality youth work be far away?
