Nichols renews welfare cuts criticism after Tories snub consistory

CARDINAL Vincent Nichols has renewed his criticism of government welfare cuts amid further signs of a cooling in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Conservative Party, write Liz Dodd and James Macintyre.

Days after returning from Rome where he received his red hat, he told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show that he was merely “stating facts” when he warned that benefit cuts left people destitute. Prime Minister David Cameron earlier said that the cardinal’s criticism was “simply not true”.

Last week, The Tablet revealed that no Cabinet ministers attended the consistory, after Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pulled out of the trip following the welfare row. Originally Baroness (Sayeeda) Warsi, the Minister for Faith, was due to attend the consistory but she asked Mr Pickles to go instead after discovering she had to visit Oman on behalf of the Government. A Whitehall source told The Tablet that the decision for no Cabinet minister to attend was taken by Number 10. 

In the BBC interview, the cardinal rejected the Prime Minister’s criticism of his claims, insisting his views were based on testimony from priests on the ground. “I sit and listen to my priests and they say that they, through the food bank, put three days’ food in front of a woman with her children and she burst into tears because she hadn’t eaten for three days. That’s not a fantasy, that’s human lives,” the cardinal said.

This week, the spokesman for the cardinal was unable to give details of any formal meetings between Cardinal Nichols and Cabinet ministers in the last two years, although it has emerged that Ed Miliband met Cardinal Nichols in his role as Archbishop of Westminster, in the Leader of the Opposition’s office at the end of 2012.

In the current issue of the official Westminster Cathedral magazine, Oremus, there are messages of congratulation to the new cardinal from both Mr Miliband and Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi, under the headline “The Nation Shares Our Joy”. But there is no message from a Conservative politician.