Britain's senior Catholic clergyman left out of UK ministerial visit to Vatican but praised by Scottish Secretary

[lizardley]

The UK Government’s failure to include Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Catholic clergyman, in this week’s two-day ministerial visit to the Holy See has been called ‘a most unfortunate oversight.’ The Foreign and Commonwealth Office failed to include the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland in the planning of events for the visit, which Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore was on, in spite of the fact that Cardinal O’Brien is in Rome this week for a symposium of African and European bishops ahead of the Consistory of Cardinals this weekend.

The visit concluded with the release of a joint communiqué that stated the ‘Holy See and Her Majesty’s Government agreed on the urgent need for action to strengthen the universal commitment to religious freedom as a fundamental human right, and to its practical application with a view to promoting respect for all religions in all countries.’

Mr Moore said: "In Scotland we are lucky to have Cardinal O’Brien who has a very strong voice, but as politicians we don’t seek to crowd anyone out of public debate, as a Liberal Democrat I feel very strongly about that.”

He added he would give the cardinal a ‘full report’ on his return.

Cardinal snubbed: sconews.co.uk/news/16355/cardinal-left-out-uk-ministerial-visit/
Scottish secretary interview: sconews.co.uk/news/16348/scottish-secretary-on-uk-vatican-commitment-to-religious-freedom/

 

[Dale_M]

The delegation was composed of six government ministers plus Vincent Nichols, who is Archbishop of Westminster, and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

The complaint about not including Cardinal O’Brien seems to rest on the inclusion of Archbishop Nichols. The Scotland Office defended the exclusion of Cardinal O’Brien by stating:

“The UK Government delegation to the Vatican was a ministerial one. It has had a successful and constructive series of meetings with Holy See officials over the past two days, dealing with important issues such as international aid, human rights, poverty and climate change. The party was made up of ministers.”

sconews.co.uk/news/16355/cardinal-left-out-uk-ministerial-visit/

Does anyone know why Archbishop Nichols was chosen for inclusion in this otherwise governmental delegation?