Monday, April 20, 2009

Pope to make historic visit to Britain
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 10:18PM GMT 14 Mar 2009


Pope Benedict XVI will visit Britain next year, according to senior Vatican sources.

The German pontiff will make the first Papal visit to this country in nearly three decades.


It is understood that the historic event is being timed to coincide with the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who is on the path to becoming the first British saint for 40 years.


Details of the visit, which will attract crowds of hundreds of thousands of people, are still under discussion, but cities being considered include London, Birmingham, Oxford, Edinburgh, Armagh and Dublin.

A senior cardinal is due to make a private trip to Britain in the summer to make preparations for the Pope's visit, which could be announced by the end of this year.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales will hope that such an event will capture the imagination of the country's four million Catholics, of whom only a quarter now regularly attend Mass.

It could also provide a boost to Gordon Brown with a general election in the same year.

At the same time, the Government has embarked on a major diplomatic mission in an attempt to change the long-standing law banning Catholics from succeeding to the throne.

Sources close to Gordon Brown said that controversial plans to reform the 1701 Act of Settlement are "very much alive" - despite official statements to the contrary.
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is overseeing an attempt to secure the backing of all 53 Commonwealth countries, which would be needed before any legislation could be be enacted.
If support can be secured, a plan for change could be agreed at the November meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago, to be attended by the Queen, and the pledge could be included in Labour's next general election manifesto.

There has been heightened speculation over the possibility of a Papal visit following extensive lobbying by the Government in recent years.
Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have each extended two invitations since 2007.
Prince Charles is expected to add further momentum to Britain's bid to secure what would be only the second visit by a Pope since Henry VIII broke with Rome to establish the Church of England in 1534.

Relations between the Catholic Church and the Government have been strained following clashes over the introduction of laws enforcing homosexual equality and the Embryo Bill, which paved the way for the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos.

However, secret talks began between the Catholic Church in England and Wales and the Vatican shortly after Pope Benedict's election in 2005, long before Gordon Brown's private audience last month.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, wrote to the Pope in 2006, suggesting that he should come to Britain in 2007 to mark the 25th anniversary of the visit by the late Pope John Paul II.

He proposed that a tour should include a lecture at Oxford University as well as an address to the Houses of Parliament.
The Cardinal was in Rome last week, where he met with Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, and it is likely they discussed plans for a Papal visit.

It has yet to be decided whether the Pope would travel to Britain solely for a service of beatification for Cardinal Newman or whether it would be turned into a tour of the British Isles.
A senior source in Rome revealed that bishops in England are divided over whether the service would be conducted in Birmingham, where his remains are venerated, or in London at Westminster Cathedral or Wembley stadium.

The Pope has privately expressed an interest in travelling to Oxford, having previously only visited Cambridge, and would also be likely to visit Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In a message released last week, he strongly condemned the attacks in Northern Ireland that left two British soldiers and a policeman dead as "abominable acts of terrorism".

"Apart from desecrating human life, [they] seriously endanger the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland and risk destroying the great hopes generated by this process in the region and throughout the world," he said.


"I ask the Lord that no one will again give in to the horrendous temptation of violence."
The Pope would be likely to visit Dublin as well as Omagh or Belfast, the senior source said, adding that there has been a notable shift in dialogue on the issue.

"There have been a number of invitations before, but the language was different from the past. It is no longer a case of paying lip service, but of looking for a time in the diary that works."

The timing of Pope Benedict's visit is likely to depend on the process to beatify Cardinal Newman – one of Britain's most famous Anglican converts to Catholicism.

While the Vatican department responsible for examining the causes of saints is yet to attribute a miracle to the Cardinal Newman, the Pope is understood to have taken a personal interest in his cause.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, the head of the department, has already said that would like the Cardinal's beatification – the step before canonisation – to take place very soon.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor has previously said that the British public would be "delighted" if the Pope were to agree to visit.

On John Paul II's tour in 1982, crowds turned out in the thousands to welcome him around the country.
Plans to allow Catholics to succeed to the throne have been backed by senior Labour figures including Jim Murphy, the Scotland Secretary, who has said: "It's wrong to have a settled constitutional position that discriminates."

Any change will be controversial. A petition lodged on the 10 Downing Street website has demanded that the government "keep the monarchy Protestant" rather than allowing Catholics to succeed.

In response a Number 10 spokesman said: "The government has no plans to change the constitutional position of the monarchy, which continues to personify both our national and Commonwealth unity as well as embodying the community cohesion and diversity of which the British people are rightly proud."

This led campaigners against change to conclude they had won a victory. However, a source close to Mr Brown said: "This plan is still very much alive.

"The reason for the [No 10] statement is that that is the current position. The problem in getting a change like this is that you can't just review it and then announce plans to legislate.

"You have to get every Commonwealth country to agree as well. That is obviously an exhaustive process."

A spokesman for the catholic bishops' conference said: "The Catholic community in this country would greatly welcome a visit from the Holy Father.

"There is an awareness that there are a number of invitations that have to be considered and it will depend on the Papal diary."

1 comment:

P. said...

I believe it will be a good oportunity for the zeros to offend him but it will be also good for the ones, the little remnant, who still think and love God.
For those, it will be a time for learning and give thanks for such a Sheppard.