Earlier this month I wrote an article about a Teresa of Ávila pilgrimage that ended with some lines from the Carmelite saint: “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing dismay you; all things pass.”

Now my editorship is something that is to pass, as I step down after 13 years at the helm of The Tablet. During that time we have reported on and tried to illuminate extraordinary moments in the life of the Catholic Church: the death of John Paul II, the conclave that led to the election of Benedict XVI, the papal state visit to the UK in 2010, the shock resignation of Pope Benedict, the election of his successor Francis, and Francis’ radical shake-up of the Vatican and the wider Church.

There have been some dismaying times too. We have often had to cover the scandal of the sexual abuse of children by paedophile priests and cover-ups by their superiors. The English-speaking Church has had to endure a new translation of the Mass that offers little poetry to evoke the transcendent.