On 22 February, Pope Francis will confer the cardinal’s biretta on the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, marking the high point in an ecclesiastical journey that has seen him at the centre of the Church in England and Wales since the mid-1980s, writes Christopher Lamb. For the football-mad teenager who contemplated his vocation while standing on the terraces at Anfield watching Liverpool, it has been quite a trip. A strong administrator, politically shrewd and with good pastoral instincts, Archbishop Nichols was in many ways the obvious choice to succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor at Westminster in 2009 and, in turn, become president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Made general secretary of the bishops’ conference in 1984, he became
16 January 2014, The Tablet
Archbishop with a down-to-earth style seeking constructive dialogue in the Church and secular spheres
Get Instant Access
Continue Reading
Register for free to read this article in full
Subscribe for unlimited access
From just £30 quarterly
Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
The full weekly edition in print and digital including our 179 years archive.
PDF version to view on iPad, iPhone or computer.
Already a subscriber? Login