Election guidance on agenda at bishops’ plenary

GUIDANCE FOR Catholics voting in next year’s general election will be discussed when English and Welsh bishops gather in Leeds next week for their biannual meeting, writes Christopher Lamb.

Four bishops – Peter Smith of Southwark, Declan Lang of Clifton, Terence Drainey of Middlesbrough and John Sherrington, a Westminster auxiliary – are overseeing the text of the guidance document, which is likely to be issued as a letter early next year, urging Catholics to use their vote in the election set for May. The document will not focus on specific policies but rather set out principles that Catholics should take into account when voting. These are likely to include life issues, poverty, the nature of marriage and caring for the world. But it will also say that voting should not be about a “single issue”.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Antonio Mennini, the nuncio to Great Britain, will both give addresses at the meeting at Hinsley Hall.