It’s official! Yahoo!!!
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His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has today appointed the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, who has been Archbishop of Birmingham since March 2000, as the next Archbishop of Westminster.
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor as Archbishop of Westminster. The Cardinal will now become the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Westminster until Archbishop Nichols is installed at Westminster Cathedral on Thursday, 21 May 2009. Until then, Archbishop Nichols will remain in Birmingham.
Archbishop Nichols will succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who has been Archbishop of Westminster since March 2000, becoming the 11th Archbishop of Westminster since the Restoration of the Hierarchy in 1850, when the diocesan structure was re-established.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said:
“I would like to welcome Archbishop Vincent back to the diocese, 17 years after he was ordained as an auxiliary Bishop in Westminster Cathedral by Cardinal Basil Hume. He has many friends and colleagues among the Bishops, priests, religious and lay people of the diocese.
“It will be a profound joy for me to celebrate Holy Week, Easter, and especially the Chrism Mass with the priests of the diocese next week, content in the knowledge the diocese is soon to be in the care of a hugely experienced and compassionate pastor.
“Archbishop Vincent and I have shared much over many years and have been privileged to be members of a most united and harmonious Bishops’ Conference: sharing with all the Bishops in a steadfast loyalty to the Holy Father and a deeply held desire to promote the common good.
“I have been blessed greatly in my ministry here and now above all I pray for God’s blessings on Vincent Nichols, the next Archbishop of Westminster.”
Archbishop Vincent Nichols said:
“As the Cardinal so graciously says, it is for me something of a return. I spent 16 very happy years here in Westminster, eight of them as General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference and eight of them as an Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Hume in North London. I learnt a great deal from him, not least about the demands of the office of the Archbishop of Westminster and I am daunted by the task that lies ahead.
“It’s sad departing from the Diocese of Birmingham which I have learnt to appreciate, cherish and love. I will miss the priests and the people of Birmingham very much indeed.
“I would like to thank Cardinal Cormac, who has been an outstanding Archbishop of Westminster. He knows what it’s like to live through really hard times and he has come through them with great dignity and strength. He has been an outstanding public leader of the Catholic community in this country today and I know I speak for many when I express our steadfast admiration and thanks to him for all that he has done.
“I feel a real need to acknowledge my openness to and dependence on God above all else. But in this I am not unique. Everyone who seeks to follow the ways of God learns to depend on the truth, love and compassion of God more than on their own strength. I know that as I prepare to take on this new office in the Church many people will pray to the Lord that I will be strengthened for this task – and that is what I definitely need.
“We often hear of the challenges facing our country in finding cohesion in the face of great diversity. Our churches are places where people are from a wide variety of different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They come together, work together and contribute together to the wider good of our society. The Church in this country has a great deal to offer and I hope to do my best to contribute to that project in this new role.”
The Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales will be meeting in Leeds from 27 April to 30 April 2009. At that meeting Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor and Archbishop Patrick Kelly will step down as President and Vice-President of the Bishops’ Conference. The Bishops will elect a President and Vice-President of the Conference as well as chairs of the Conference’s six departments.
As Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor remains an active member of the College of Cardinals and retains the right to vote in a conclave until he reached the age of 80. He also remains eligible to be a member of Congregations, Councils and Commissions in the Roman Curia until he is 80.
In common with other Episcopal Sees throughout the world where the incumbent has usually been nominated by the Pope to join the College of Cardinals, it would not be expected that the Archbishop of Westminster be appointed as a Cardinal until after Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor has become 80.
catholic-ew.org.uk/ccb/catholic_church/media_centre2/press_releases/press_releases_2009/pope_benedict_xvi_appoints_archbishop_vincent_nichols_as_new_archbishop_of_westminster2
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7980704.stm
