Scottish Catholic Observer

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has been elevated to the role of cardinal by Pope Francis in Rome, becoming the UK’s most senior Catholic clergyman.

In a surprise move, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI attended the ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica last Saturday. It was the first time the Pope Emeritus and Pope Francis have taken part in a public Liturgical event together.

“I tell you what the Church needs—it needs you, your collaboration and, above all, your communion, communion with me and among yourselves,” Pope Francis told the 18 men to whom he gave the red hat in St Peter’s Basilica. A 19th new cardinal—98-year-old Loris Capovilla, former secretary to John XXIII—will get his hat in the coming days at his residence in northern Italy.

“The Church needs your courage, to proclaim the Gospel at all times, both in season and out of season, and to bear witness to the truth,” the Pope told the new cardinals. “The Church needs your prayer for the progress of Christ’s flock, the prayer which, together with the proclamation of the Word, is the primary task of the Bishop. The Church needs your compassion, especially at this time of pain and suffering for so many countries throughout the world.”

The Pope went on to say he and all the cardinals needed to pray for Christians facing persecution.

In addition to receiving the red hat and a ring at the consistory, Cardinal Nichols, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, was given the titular church of the Most Holy Redeemer and St Alphonsus in Rome— a church designed by the Scottish architect George Wigley in neo-Gothic style.

Cardinal Nichols said on Monday that he was delighted to be able to be a part of what he called Pope Francis’s programme of ‘radical renewal’ amid a very diverse group of cardinals.

“To be among 18 new cardinals, from 15 different countries and only four of them Europeans begins, I think, to make very clear where the strength of Catholicism lies,” he said. “I would define the… emerging Papacy of Pope Francis and I would not use the word reform. I would use the phrase radical renewal.”

The night before the consistory, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor celebrated Mass in his titular church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva with hundreds of pilgrims from England and Wales whom he urged to pray for their new cardinal.

‘We pray that he will lead the Church in England and Wales with renewed courage and wisdom,” he said. “We pray that he will receive grace from God to assist the Holy Father and to be open to his guidance in every way.”

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—This story ran in full in the February 28 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.