While Cardinal Seán Brady makes history 2 weeks ago with his attendance
at the wedding of Britain's Prince William to Kate Middleton, he may
soon be called to play an even greater role at the heart of the British
establishment.
The London-based Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported at the weekend
that senior Catholic Churchmen from Britain and Northern Ireland would
be invited to sit in the House of Lords in a bid to make the chamber
more representative.
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, in his constitutional reform
portfolio, initially wanted to exclude the so-called 'Lords Spiritual'
from the chamber.
Currently, 26 bishops of the Church of England sit in the house by
right while some other religious figures, including Chief Rabbi Lord
Jonathan Sacks, are members in a personal capacity.
Mr Clegg had argued that this discriminates against followers of
other faiths and sought to exclude the Anglicans.
However, senior
Conservative Party sources have indicated that Prime Minister David
Cameron does not want the House of Lords to become purely secular so he
is proposing to ask senior Catholic clerics in Britain and Northern
Ireland to accept ennoblement and sit in the upper chamber.
Accordingly, the Catholics would become the first Catholic clerics to sit in the British parliament since the Reformation.
However, Rome is lukewarm at best to the proposal and would be
expected to forbid Cardinal Brady and other Catholic clerics from
accepting the appointments.
While the so-called 'Lords Spiritual' ought not to take party
political lines in the Lords, it is first-and-foremost a political
institution and Canon Law forbids clerics from exercising political
power.
Several priests have previously been suspended from their ministry for seeking political office.
Retired Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
turned down a similar prestigious noble title in 2009 after consulting
with the Vatican.