Pope Leo has given his stamp of approval to a theologian who charted a middle way between error and excess, had a distaste for extremism, encouraged consultation and defended debate and argument among scholars

When the cause for John Henry Newman’s canonisation, which had long been sought, seemed to have stalled, there were those who argued he should simply be declared a doctor of the Church. However, we are all familiar with the saying, “practise what you preach.” To declare someone to be a member of an elite group that includes such distinguished teachers as the Venerable Bede, Thomas Aquinas and Teresa of Ávila, who might nevertheless be found to have failed that test, was unthinkable. Doctors of the Church need also to be saints. Then finally in 2019 Newman was canonised. And now, after just six years, he has in fact been declared a doctor of the Church. Why?

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