The new leader of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales says religious faith must not be marginalised.Incoming Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols: homosexuality 'is not a sin'
Archbishop Vincent Nichols was appointed as the new Archbishop of Westminster by Pope Benedict XVI last week and will take up the position in May.
In an interview on Sunday Live with Colin Brazier, he encouraged Catholics to express their views on issues such as abortion.
"I don't go around looking for fights," he said.
"I really just try to make contact with people, and hopefully to try to be reasonable and persuasive about God and how much our society has to gain by not marginalising religious faith."
The Archbishop, who has encouraged followers to oppose plans to allow abortion providers to advertise on television, said: "All I'm trying to do is highlight some of the issues and ask people - abortion is a very difficult issue - that it's not simplified."
He said abortion was the "snuffing out of another human life" and described it as "traumatic".
And he said he would "not be afraid to ask Catholics to let their views be known".
Asked about his message at Easter, the Archbishop, who is taking over from Cormac Murphy O'Connor, said: "My message would be: be proud of your faith and don't be afraid to live by it and act on it and be as deeply as rooted as you can in that faith and as open to the world as you can.
"We all need to take a bit more time to live life a bit more deeply, with a bit more reflection, a bit more spirit. We are so rushed.
"What I would love to encourage families to do is to find a bit of time to stop together and maybe chat and pray together."
Speaking about the Church's teaching on gay relationships, he said: "I will always be happy as a guide to stick with Pope Benedict."
But he added: "Homosexuality - is it a sin? Homosexuality is not a sin.
"A person who is of a homosexual orientation is as worthy and as dignified as anybody else and one of the things I regret about our society is that it tends to identify people by their sexual orientation and that is a diminishing of a person.
"Nobody should be put in a box because of their sexuality."
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(Source: SkyTV)