ARCHBISHOP MICHAEL FITZGERALD has travelled the world as part of his work to promote understanding between people of different faiths. Now, the Walsall-born former head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, who lived in Jerusalem after his retirement as papal nuncio in Egypt in 2012, has settled in Liverpool.

Archbishop Fitzgerald is one of a community of White Fathers based at the church of St Vincent de Paul, the magnificent Edward Pugin pile in a run-down part of the city. The Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon, invited them to conduct a mission to Africans and migrants from other parts of the world. “Michael Fitzgerald is an Arabic speaker and scholar so we’re very lucky,” Archbishop McMahon told us.