The royal wedding “gives the lie” to the notion that British society
doesn’t care about marriage, the Archbishop of Westminster has said.
Speaking
in an interview with the Catholic Herald in Rome,
Archbishop Vincent Nichols went on to compare the beatification of Pope
John Paul II, which took place Sunday morning, with the wedding of
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge which he attended Friday.
He
said: “Tomorrow, in a way, is a celebration of the same love that
William and Catherine promised to each other – yesterday in marriage,
today in service of priest, bishop and Pope – but it’s the same
well-spring of love that comes from God that we see on both days.”
Describing the events in Westminster Abbey, Archbishop Nichols said that
the crowd cheered at two points during the wedding ceremony.
He said:
“It was very remarkable when it happened. The first [instance] was when
the two exchanged their promises. So when Catherine said ‘I will’ there
was a great cheer. People recognised the solemnity of the promises that
were being made. The second was when the Archbishop of Canterbury said
‘So in the sight of God and these people I now declare you man and wife’
and there was a great cheer.
“There is popular recognition that
marriage is a fresh start. That this from now on was something different
and it was a profound change in the life of both those young people.
And everybody recognises it. I think that gives the lie to the idea that
marriage is of little consequence in our society. It clearly is of
great consequence in the eyes of people witnessing and taking part in
that marriage yesterday.”