Bishops hold historic prayer meeting in More’s cell

The archbishop of Westminster and the Anglican Bishop of London made history this week when they met in the Tower of London to pray together in the cell of St Thomas More.

The prayer meeting marked the launch of a new society to promote understanding of the British saint – executed for his refusal to recognise Henry VIII as head of the Church of England – and other Christian martyrs. It will also help restore the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula and its crypt dedicated to More. Afterwards Archbishop  Vincent Nichols and Bishop Richard Chartres stressed the importance of preserving the chapel as a shrine “to remind us of the dangers of religious intolerance”.

The Catholic and Anglican bishops also prayed together in the crypt where More’s headless body was left after his execution and used prayers written by the saint.

Afterwards they wrote “it may seem remarkable” that they should pray together in such a place given the reasons behind More’s death. But in a letter to The Daily Telegraph they explained: “We rejoice that many wounds dividing Catholics and Anglicans have been healed. Wounds still remain. This is why we prayed that our unity may be deepened.”

During their meeting, believed to be the first time two senior figures from both Churches have met in the cell, they also remembered “all who suffer because of sincerely held convictions during religious conflicts of the sixteenth century”.

The 1535 Society has been named after the date More was executed on Tower Hill. Funds raised by the society will contribute to the planned £1.5 million appeal to restore the crypt and chapel, where St Thomas More and St John Fisher are buried.
Last year, the appeal was launched by General the Lord Dannatt, the constable of the Tower of London.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Nichols said this week that Pope Francis’ remarks about Catholic moral teaching had changed the way that the Church was perceived, but emphasised that he had not changed church teaching on priestly celibacy, homosexuality or divorce.

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales  – while in Wales to address the Muslim Council – he said: “I don’t think for one minute either from his track record or his office that he’s about to reconfigure Catholic teaching. He is creating a different culture around how the Church faces the world and how it sees the world and maybe how the world sees the Church, maybe through clearer eyes than it used to.”

On Thursday the archbishop was to address the second gathering of the Church’s “Blueprint for Better Business”. He was to tell senior figures that businesses can work to serve the common good and should not “focus solely on maximising profit and making amends to society as an afterthought”.