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Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to Britain
To order your copy of The Tablet’s souvenir issue call 020 8748 8484 (00 44 20 8748 8484 from overseas) or email sblackburn@thetablet.co.uk. The 56-page edition includes day-by-day coverage, behind-the-scenes reports and comprehensive analysis of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain.
Read the full text of the Pope’s speeches
In pictures: the historic four-day visit
Heart spoke unto heart, in the words of the motto of Pope Benedict
XVI’s visit – to the surprise of some observers the Pope attracted
crowds of over half a million in the four-day visit that made history.
He became the first Pope to be welcomed by the Queen, the first to Pope
visit Lambeth Palace and attend a service at Westminster Abbey, and the
first Pope to give a speech in London’s Westminster Hall. And there
were the unforgettable prayerful gatherings in Glasgow, London and
Birmingham.
To say of Pope Benedict XVI that “he came, he saw, he conquered” would be true, even spectacularly so – but still only part of the truth. For he was conquered too during his state visit to Britain, as he seemed to admit in his Wednesday general audience this week when he spoke of “the intense and very beautiful four days” in which he found the Christian faith strong in every level of society.
The visit had been preceded by vehement and sometimes malicious personal attacks, and while Pope Benedict spoke politely during the plane trip from Rome of Britain as a tolerant society, there was a nervousness in the Vatican about what was perceived as its aggressive secularism – as Cardinal Walter Kasper so dramatically articulated in a German magazine just before the visit.
What the Pope and his entourage actually found is well reflected in the figures confirmed by the Metropolitan police after Saturday’s events in London. The enthusiastic crowds who lined the streets to watch him pass on his way down the flag-lined Mall grew to 200,000 while there were 6,000 on the anti-papal march to Downing Street, though the organisers claimed several times that. Even those parts of the national media who had been most critical of the visit beforehand, had changed their tune by the time he left.
The Pope’s response to Britain has been greatly influenced by Britain’s response to him and that was due in no small part to his preparation for the visit, as well as his demeanour. While there had been wary apprehension about the country, Pope Benedict turned his formidable intellect to the question of what makes Britain tick, and the subtle and complex nuances of British society and history were both understood and appreciated and in many respects applauded. It was the recognition of this that earned his address in Westminster Hall, arguably the centre piece of the entire visit, such a warm reception. The questions he raised were real and telling, and stood at the heart of political debate. He was asking for a new and constructive way for faith and secular society to work together, which he called a conversation. It struck the right note. It threatened nobody’s rights and privileges. It was no longer implausible, even, to begin to see how the Pope might take Britain as a template for the rest of Europe, as to how faith and reason, Church and state, secularism and religion, might after all be good for one another.
The Pope’s itinerary
 Thursday 16 September, Scotland
10.30am Pope Benedict XVI arrives at Edinburgh International Airport
11am State welcome at Holyrood House; audience with the Queen; reception with speeches by the Queen and the Pope; travel by Popemobile through Edinburgh; private lunch with Cardinal Keith O’Brien
5.15pm Open-air Mass at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, homily by the Pope
Friday 17 September, London
10am Pope visits St Mary's University College, Twickenham, to pray with educators , meet 3,000 Catholic students and, later, leaders of other faiths
4pm Visit to Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth Palace
5.10pm Address to civil society at Westminster Hall
6.15pm Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey with addresses by the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury
Saturday 18 September, London
9am Pope receives "courtesy calls" at Archbishop’s House, Westminster, from Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman, acting Leader of the Opposition
10am Mass in Westminster Cathedral, Pope greets 2,500 young people in Piazza before returning to cathedral to greet "the people of Wales"
5pm Pope visits St Peter’s Residence care home, Vauxhall
6.15pm Prayer Vigil in Hyde Park with address by the Pope
Sunday 19 September, Birmingham
8.45am Departure by helicopter from Wimbledon Park to Birmingham
10am Pope beatifies Cardinal Newman at Cofton Park, gives homily
1.10pm Private visit to Birmingham Oratory
1.45pm Lunch with bishops of England, Scotland and Wales in Oscott College
6.45pm Departure for Rome
Understanding Benedict – a look at the Pope’s life and theology
Life lessons
The beatification of John Henry Newman on Sunday will be one the highlights of the papal visit to Britain. Newman’s teaching, particularly on conscience, has long had a profound influence on the Pope’s thinking, as this presentation made on the first centenary of the cardinal’s death made clear
Joseph Ratzinger
18 September 2010
So far and yet so near
One is the ruler of a global congregation recently put at nearly 1.2 billion, the other a nominal head of a worldwide communion of some 80 million. Next week, Joseph Ratzinger and Rowan Williams will meet during the papal visit to Britain. There is much to unite these seemingly disparate figures
11 September 2010
Rupert Shortt
The Green Pope
Benedict XVI’s concern for the environment has flowered morally through his concern for the effects of climate change on the poor, and theologically through ideas of stewardship. But it originates in his theories about beauty that also influence his thinking on liturgy
Catherine Pepinster
4 September 2010
The economy is for man, not man for the economy
With the publication of his third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict turned his attention to economic and social concerns. Here, one of Italy’s most noted economists highlights its critique of economic fundamentalism and its idea for a new order
Stefano Zamagni
28 August 2010
Of a different order
In contrast to the interfaith success of John Paul II, Benedict XVI has found himself mired in controversy over relations with both
Jews and Muslims. What is now emerging is a focus on cultural dialogue rather than difficult theological enquiry
John Borelli
21 August 2010
Where truth and beauty meet
Joseph Ratzinger believes the changes to the Mass that followed the Second Vatican Council signalled a rupture from what had gone before. As Pope, he has taken active steps to bring back elements that were lost and to restore a sense of continuity
Eamon Duffy
14 August 2010
More wistful than wise
While Benedict XVI places the Church’s social teaching in the context of the modern world, his thinking on sexual ethics takes little account of life today. He has an idealised vision of domestic life where what is needed is a realistic theology of marriage, sexuality and parenthood
Tina Beattie
7 August 2010
Europe in perspective
Benedict XVI’s argument that the decline of Christianity in its continental heartland has created a “dictatorship of relativism” leading to competing freedoms and ultimately a moral vacuum strikes a discordant note in a secular society built on a concept of mutual respect
Edward Stourton
31 July 2010
Ordered, transformed universe
Pope Benedict’s early studies of St Augustine of Hippo permeate much of his subsequent thought, most clearly demonstrated in his rejection of the idea that the Second Vatican Council marked a rupture in church history in favour of its acceptance as part of an unfolding of mystery
Lewis Ayres
24 July 2010
Bitter-sweet symphony
Metaphors drawn from the musical form used to such dramatic effect by the Pope’s favourite composers help illuminate some of the apparent contradictions that many have seen in his evolving analysis of the post-Second Vatican Council Church
Alana Harris
17 July 2010
Ratzinger the romantic
The second in our series on the thought and life of Pope Benedict explores how he focuses as much on the heart and beauty as on truth. And this means that Christianity can never be just another ethic, but remains centred on the person of Christ
Tracey Rowland
10 July 2010
Made in Bavaria
The papal visit to Britain is now just three months away. In the first of a series of articles about the Pope’s life and theology, a professor of German explores the milieu that shaped Joseph Ratzinger
Nicholas Boyle
3 July 2010
Preparing for the Pope
Living stream in a dry land
10 July 2010
Inside the tent and ready for the challenge
Catholic peer, former Government minister, last Governor of Hong Kong, Chancellor of Oxford University, Chris Patten can tick them all off. Now, as he tells Catherine Pepinster, faith, politics and the intellectual life come together as he masterminds plans for Pope Benedict's visit to Britain
10 July 2010
Catherine Pepinster
Music, prayer and pilgrimage - how the Hyde Park vigil will unfold
10 July 2010
Elena Curti
A need for enthusiasm
12 June 2010
Return of the Governor
Leading Catholic Lord Patten has been summoned by Prime Minister David Cameron to sort out the problems besetting the first state visit to Britain by a Pope, not least the gap between escalating costs and the money being raised. Can he fix it in time?
12 June 2010
Catherine Pepinster
Into unknown territory
22 May 2010
The handmaiden of bigotry
1 May 2010
Pragmatists and fools
The Government has apologised to the Vatican and the Church over a shocking memo about the papal visit. Middle-ranking officials have been blamed - but the roots of the row can be found in new styles of government, diplomacy and management
1 May 2010
Catherine Pepinster
Freedom through the truth
The Pope urged the bishops of England and Wales, during their ad limina visit to Rome this week, not only to defend church teaching in the face of equality teaching, but to support the priesthood and encourage interfaith dialogue and evangelism
6 February 2010
Pope Benedict XVI
A real and unique opportunity
Pope Benedict XVI will make the first papal state visit to Britain next autumn. It will be many months before details will emerge of precisely where he will go and who he will meet. We asked a selection of leading Catholics to tell us their hopes and expectations for the trip
3 October 2009
Isabel de Bertodano
A welcome for the Pope
26 September 2009
Who was Cardinal Newman?
Saints and subversion
It is well known that John Henry Newman was a leading figure in the Church of England who caused huge controversy when he became a Catholic. So why will Anglicans be celebrating his life and work in the year of his beatification?
31 July 2010
Nicholas Henshall
Illusions of morality
In a series of lectures in Dublin first published in the middle of the nineteenth century under the title The Idea of a University, John Henry Newman examined the purpose of higher education, highlighting at one point the dangers of the then prevalent moral idealism. It is just as relevant today
10 April 2010
Alasdair MacIntyre
One soul, two bodies
Friendship is a preparation for a greater love, according to Cardinal Newman, whose own relationship with his fellow priest Ambrose St John was profound, and essential to understanding his thinking
3 April 2010
Mark Vernon
Reasons to believe
23 January 2010
Earlier this month in his Tablet column, Clifford Longley was critical of canonisation miracles and cited the case of Cardinal Newman in this regard. But the spokesman for Newman's forthcoming beatification says the cardinal believed that miracles served the Church's mission
Jack Valero
Other events
Newman Symposium
J. H. Newman by his Biographers
Speakers include Fr Ian Ker of Oxford University, Dr Sheridan Gilley of Durham University, Fr Michael Lang from the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and Fr Keith Beaumont of the Oratory of France, author of "Blessed John Henry Newman, the Authorised Beatification Biography"
Birmingham International Conference Centre
18 September 2010
Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius
Ex Cathedra and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Jeremy Skidmore perform Edward Elgar's masterful setting of The Dream of Gerontius to mark the beatification of the work's author, Cardinal Newman.
Birmingham Town Hall
18 September 2010
To let us know about an event relating to the papal visit or the beatification, email afrymann@thetablet.co.uk .
To receive The Tablet throughout the year subscribe here
Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to Britain
To order your copy of The Tablet’s souvenir issue call 020 8748 8484 (00 44 20 8748 8484 from overseas) or email sblackburn@thetablet.co.uk. The 56-page edition includes day-by-day coverage, behind-the-scenes reports and comprehensive analysis of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain.
Read the full text of the Pope’s speeches
In pictures: the historic four-day visit
Heart spoke unto heart, in the words of the motto of Pope Benedict
XVI’s visit – to the surprise of some observers the Pope attracted
crowds of over half a million in the four-day visit that made history.
He became the first Pope to be welcomed by the Queen, the first to Pope
visit Lambeth Palace and attend a service at Westminster Abbey, and the
first Pope to give a speech in London’s Westminster Hall. And there
were the unforgettable prayerful gatherings in Glasgow, London and
Birmingham.
To say of Pope Benedict XVI that “he came, he saw, he conquered” would be true, even spectacularly so – but still only part of the truth. For he was conquered too during his state visit to Britain, as he seemed to admit in his Wednesday general audience this week when he spoke of “the intense and very beautiful four days” in which he found the Christian faith strong in every level of society.
The visit had been preceded by vehement and sometimes malicious personal attacks, and while Pope Benedict spoke politely during the plane trip from Rome of Britain as a tolerant society, there was a nervousness in the Vatican about what was perceived as its aggressive secularism – as Cardinal Walter Kasper so dramatically articulated in a German magazine just before the visit.
What the Pope and his entourage actually found is well reflected in the figures confirmed by the Metropolitan police after Saturday’s events in London. The enthusiastic crowds who lined the streets to watch him pass on his way down the flag-lined Mall grew to 200,000 while there were 6,000 on the anti-papal march to Downing Street, though the organisers claimed several times that. Even those parts of the national media who had been most critical of the visit beforehand, had changed their tune by the time he left.
The Pope’s response to Britain has been greatly influenced by Britain’s response to him and that was due in no small part to his preparation for the visit, as well as his demeanour. While there had been wary apprehension about the country, Pope Benedict turned his formidable intellect to the question of what makes Britain tick, and the subtle and complex nuances of British society and history were both understood and appreciated and in many respects applauded. It was the recognition of this that earned his address in Westminster Hall, arguably the centre piece of the entire visit, such a warm reception. The questions he raised were real and telling, and stood at the heart of political debate. He was asking for a new and constructive way for faith and secular society to work together, which he called a conversation. It struck the right note. It threatened nobody’s rights and privileges. It was no longer implausible, even, to begin to see how the Pope might take Britain as a template for the rest of Europe, as to how faith and reason, Church and state, secularism and religion, might after all be good for one another.
The Pope’s itinerary
Thursday 16 September, Scotland
10.30am Pope Benedict XVI arrives at Edinburgh International Airport
11am State welcome at Holyrood House; audience with the Queen; reception with speeches by the Queen and the Pope; travel by Popemobile through Edinburgh; private lunch with Cardinal Keith O’Brien
5.15pm Open-air Mass at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, homily by the Pope
Friday 17 September, London
10am Pope visits St Mary's University College, Twickenham, to pray with educators , meet 3,000 Catholic students and, later, leaders of other faiths
4pm Visit to Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth Palace
5.10pm Address to civil society at Westminster Hall
6.15pm Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey with addresses by the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury
Saturday 18 September, London
9am Pope receives "courtesy calls" at Archbishop’s House, Westminster, from Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman, acting Leader of the Opposition
10am Mass in Westminster Cathedral, Pope greets 2,500 young people in Piazza before returning to cathedral to greet "the people of Wales"
5pm Pope visits St Peter’s Residence care home, Vauxhall
6.15pm Prayer Vigil in Hyde Park with address by the Pope
Sunday 19 September, Birmingham
8.45am Departure by helicopter from Wimbledon Park to Birmingham
10am Pope beatifies Cardinal Newman at Cofton Park, gives homily
1.10pm Private visit to Birmingham Oratory
1.45pm Lunch with bishops of England, Scotland and Wales in Oscott College
6.45pm Departure for Rome
Understanding Benedict – a look at the Pope’s life and theology
Life lessons
The beatification of John Henry Newman on Sunday will be one the highlights of the papal visit to Britain. Newman’s teaching, particularly on conscience, has long had a profound influence on the Pope’s thinking, as this presentation made on the first centenary of the cardinal’s death made clear
Joseph Ratzinger
18 September 2010
So far and yet so near
One is the ruler of a global congregation recently put at nearly 1.2 billion, the other a nominal head of a worldwide communion of some 80 million. Next week, Joseph Ratzinger and Rowan Williams will meet during the papal visit to Britain. There is much to unite these seemingly disparate figures
11 September 2010
Rupert Shortt
The Green Pope
Benedict XVI’s concern for the environment has flowered morally through his concern for the effects of climate change on the poor, and theologically through ideas of stewardship. But it originates in his theories about beauty that also influence his thinking on liturgy
Catherine Pepinster
4 September 2010
The economy is for man, not man for the economy
With the publication of his third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict turned his attention to economic and social concerns. Here, one of Italy’s most noted economists highlights its critique of economic fundamentalism and its idea for a new order
Stefano Zamagni
28 August 2010
Of a different order
In contrast to the interfaith success of John Paul II, Benedict XVI has found himself mired in controversy over relations with both
Jews and Muslims. What is now emerging is a focus on cultural dialogue rather than difficult theological enquiry
John Borelli
21 August 2010
Where truth and beauty meet
Joseph Ratzinger believes the changes to the Mass that followed the Second Vatican Council signalled a rupture from what had gone before. As Pope, he has taken active steps to bring back elements that were lost and to restore a sense of continuity
Eamon Duffy
14 August 2010
More wistful than wise
While Benedict XVI places the Church’s social teaching in the context of the modern world, his thinking on sexual ethics takes little account of life today. He has an idealised vision of domestic life where what is needed is a realistic theology of marriage, sexuality and parenthood
Tina Beattie
7 August 2010
Europe in perspective
Benedict XVI’s argument that the decline of Christianity in its continental heartland has created a “dictatorship of relativism” leading to competing freedoms and ultimately a moral vacuum strikes a discordant note in a secular society built on a concept of mutual respect
Edward Stourton
31 July 2010
Ordered, transformed universe
Pope Benedict’s early studies of St Augustine of Hippo permeate much of his subsequent thought, most clearly demonstrated in his rejection of the idea that the Second Vatican Council marked a rupture in church history in favour of its acceptance as part of an unfolding of mystery
Lewis Ayres
24 July 2010
Bitter-sweet symphony
Metaphors drawn from the musical form used to such dramatic effect by the Pope’s favourite composers help illuminate some of the apparent contradictions that many have seen in his evolving analysis of the post-Second Vatican Council Church
Alana Harris
17 July 2010
Ratzinger the romantic
The second in our series on the thought and life of Pope Benedict explores how he focuses as much on the heart and beauty as on truth. And this means that Christianity can never be just another ethic, but remains centred on the person of Christ
Tracey Rowland
10 July 2010
Made in Bavaria
The papal visit to Britain is now just three months away. In the first of a series of articles about the Pope’s life and theology, a professor of German explores the milieu that shaped Joseph Ratzinger
Nicholas Boyle
3 July 2010
Preparing for the Pope
Living stream in a dry land
10 July 2010
Inside the tent and ready for the challenge
Catholic peer, former Government minister, last Governor of Hong Kong, Chancellor of Oxford University, Chris Patten can tick them all off. Now, as he tells Catherine Pepinster, faith, politics and the intellectual life come together as he masterminds plans for Pope Benedict's visit to Britain
10 July 2010
Catherine Pepinster
Music, prayer and pilgrimage - how the Hyde Park vigil will unfold
10 July 2010
Elena Curti
A need for enthusiasm
12 June 2010
Return of the Governor
Leading Catholic Lord Patten has been summoned by Prime Minister David Cameron to sort out the problems besetting the first state visit to Britain by a Pope, not least the gap between escalating costs and the money being raised. Can he fix it in time?
12 June 2010
Catherine Pepinster
Into unknown territory
22 May 2010
The handmaiden of bigotry
1 May 2010
Pragmatists and fools
The Government has apologised to the Vatican and the Church over a shocking memo about the papal visit. Middle-ranking officials have been blamed - but the roots of the row can be found in new styles of government, diplomacy and management
1 May 2010
Catherine Pepinster
Freedom through the truth
The Pope urged the bishops of England and Wales, during their ad limina visit to Rome this week, not only to defend church teaching in the face of equality teaching, but to support the priesthood and encourage interfaith dialogue and evangelism
6 February 2010
Pope Benedict XVI
A real and unique opportunity
Pope Benedict XVI will make the first papal state visit to Britain next autumn. It will be many months before details will emerge of precisely where he will go and who he will meet. We asked a selection of leading Catholics to tell us their hopes and expectations for the trip
3 October 2009
Isabel de Bertodano
A welcome for the Pope
26 September 2009
Who was Cardinal Newman?
Saints and subversion
It is well known that John Henry Newman was a leading figure in the Church of England who caused huge controversy when he became a Catholic. So why will Anglicans be celebrating his life and work in the year of his beatification?
31 July 2010
Nicholas Henshall
Illusions of morality
In a series of lectures in Dublin first published in the middle of the nineteenth century under the title The Idea of a University, John Henry Newman examined the purpose of higher education, highlighting at one point the dangers of the then prevalent moral idealism. It is just as relevant today
10 April 2010
Alasdair MacIntyre
One soul, two bodies
Friendship is a preparation for a greater love, according to Cardinal Newman, whose own relationship with his fellow priest Ambrose St John was profound, and essential to understanding his thinking
3 April 2010
Mark Vernon
Reasons to believe
23 January 2010
Earlier this month in his Tablet column, Clifford Longley was critical of canonisation miracles and cited the case of Cardinal Newman in this regard. But the spokesman for Newman's forthcoming beatification says the cardinal believed that miracles served the Church's mission
Jack Valero
Other events
Newman Symposium
J. H. Newman by his Biographers
Speakers include Fr Ian Ker of Oxford University, Dr Sheridan Gilley of Durham University, Fr Michael Lang from the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and Fr Keith Beaumont of the Oratory of France, author of "Blessed John Henry Newman, the Authorised Beatification Biography"
Birmingham International Conference Centre
18 September 2010
Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius
Ex Cathedra and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Jeremy Skidmore perform Edward Elgar's masterful setting of The Dream of Gerontius to mark the beatification of the work's author, Cardinal Newman.
Birmingham Town Hall
18 September 2010
To let us know about an event relating to the papal visit or the beatification, email afrymann@thetablet.co.uk .
To receive The Tablet throughout the year subscribe here
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In this week’s issue
Being Christ’s hands and feet
An easeful death?
‘Give the poor the oil that anoints them with dignity: a job’
‘Migrants bring the vitality of non-Western spirituality’
Cosmic connection of the heart
Gross, and not so moral
Yes, we can confirm
Why do Catholic schools need to turn to Stonewall?
Elena Curti
Banishing O'Brien answers some questions, raises others
Abigail Frymann
Does Cardinal O’Brien deserve banishment or pardon? He at least owes us an explanation
Elena Curti, Deputy Editor
Don’t stop there, Justine Greening, the current model of aid is problematic
Bishop Kevin Dowling, guest contributor
Welby's right - St Benedict has much to offer banking reform efforts
Laurence Freeman OSB
Pope attacks the tyranny of the markets
Cult of money is today's golden calf, warns Francis
Pope Francis yesterday gave his first major analysis on the causes of the global financial crisis. In a speech to ambassadors he said:
I am pleased to receive you ...
Hospitals must ensure the LCP is not misapplied
Professor David Albert Jones, Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre
The Liverpool Care Pathway, which sets out guidance about the care of dying patients, has come under fire from patients' relatives and some doctors who claim it has been misapplied.
Professor ...
Same-sex marriage bill must not discriminate against the Church
Archbishop Vincent Nichols calls for amendments to the legislation ahead of next week's debate
This week the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, wrote to leaders of the three main political parties arguing that amendments are needed to the same-sex marriage bill - ... Tiptoeing towards Scripture
Pope Benedict XVI has exhorted Catholics to become more familiar with their Bibles, in his round-up of the 2008 Synod on the Word of God. At the same time the Bible Society ...
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