18 February 2016, The Tablet

Pope Francis’ stock is pretty high with the secular press. They like him


 
Anti-papist feeling in Britain is not what it used to be. It always had a jokey element. “Two infallible powers. The Pope and Bovril,” declared the nineteenth-century advertisement. Earlier, the joke had literally been killing.Last week, The Times reported, “Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in Britain [which he isn’t quite, but we got the drift], celebrated vespers in the Chapel Royal” at Hampton Court. The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, joined in. The Psalms were sung in Latin. Everyone had a lovely time.The “scent of incense filled the air” and Cardinal Nichols was wearing a “brocade robe”, reported The Guardian. “Henry VIII may have been turning in his grave.” (The Times made it “spinn
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