The Vatican is being urged to block the planned sale of a Catholic private hospital by an order of nuns.The Daughters of the Cross of Liege say they have no choice but to sell St Anthony's Hospital, in Sutton, Surrey, due to their ageing congregation - the average age is over 70.
But opponents of the sale say it will mean the hospital will no longer be a Catholic institution and will jeopardise the future of St Raphael's Hospice, which is on the same site, is also owned by the sisters and is part-funded by the hospital.
Dr Ronald McKeran, chairman of St Raphael's Hospice Advisory Committee, and six senior consultants from St Anthony's, have written to Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo, secretary to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, urging the congregation to refuse permission for the sale.