In the case of John Henry Newman, whose canonisation takes place in Rome tomorrow, Sunday 13 October, the man and his words cannot be separated.

In the case of John Henry Newman, whose canonisation takes place in Rome tomorrow, Sunday 13 October, the man and his words cannot be separated. Canonisation ceremonies salute and celebrate the holiness of the person being canonised, confirming that they are in heaven in the presence of God. They are not so much concerned with what the individual taught or believed in his or her lifetime – which, in the presence of God, who is all Truth, no longer has any meaning. But Newman’s ideas are still alive on earth today; indeed, they have never been more necessary.

His canonisation should not be treated as a triumph for one school or another. To weaponise his name in order to support a bubble of progressive or liberal ideas – for instance to regard his teaching on conscience as justifying “doing whatever feels right”, or on the contrary to inflate a conservative case by insisting that freedom of conscience stops as soon as it encounters the voice of the magisterium – are both liable to be punctured by Newman himself.

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