World News
Pope will beatify Cardinal Newman in England during September visit
Published:
LONDON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will preside at the beatification ceremony of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Coventry, England, during a four-day visit to the United Kingdom Sept. 16-19, British Catholic leaders said. The step is an unusual one because under Pope Benedict's own rules, a beatification is to be performed by a cardinal in the diocese where the candidate for sainthood died. Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, told a March 16 press conference in London that to see Cardinal Newman "declared 'blessed' -- a step toward sainthood -- will be a very, very important moment." "Cardinal John Henry Newman is a figure of great literary culture, a poet and a pastor," he said. "He is a towering figure in English history over the last 200 years. Pope Benedict has a particular attentiveness to the writings of Cardinal Newman," the archbishop added. "He is making an exception to his own rules to do this. ... This will be the first beatification he has carried out as pope." Cardinal Newman was an Anglican cleric who founded the Oxford Movement to bring the Anglican Church back to its Catholic roots. He became Catholic at the age of 44 after a succession of clashes with Anglican bishops and was made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. He died in Birmingham in 1890 at age 89.
Copyright (c) Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .
