Ex-Catholic priest moves to call key players in Archdiocese of Baltimore investigation at sex abuse trial

A former Catholic priest who’s accused of sexually abusing a boy in the 1990s has signaled that he could call key players in the Maryland attorney general’s investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore as witnesses at trial.

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General in 2023 released a 456-page report that detailed how 156 priests and other personnel perpetrated “horrific and repeated abuse” as church leaders turned a blind eye.

Investigators looked into allegations against the Rev. William Mannion Jr. but declined to name him in the report. 

But now, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office is prosecuting him.

In court documents filed this month, Mannion’s attorney, Charles Waechter, wrote that he will call 10 witnesses, including Elizabeth Embry, who led the investigation into the archdiocese, and Richard Wolf, a criminal investigator.

Waechter said he did not have any additional information to share.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, Kelsey Hartman, declined to comment. Embry, who is now a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from Baltimore, could not immediately be reached.

Mannion, 63, of Sparrows Point, who was known as Father Bill, is accused of sexually abusing a former altar server and student at St. Agnes Catholic School in Catonsville for several years. He maintains his innocence.

He’s charged in Baltimore County Circuit Court with child abuse and sex offenses.

The case has divided the area’s Catholic community, as some have tried to poke holes in the accusations and point out that Mannion has acted as an advocate for survivors.

Mannion helped bring down John Merzbacher, a notorious former teacher at the Catholic Community School of Baltimore who victimized dozens of children.

Merzbacher, 81, died of natural causes in 2023 at Eastern Correctional Institution, where he was serving four life sentences.

In 1998, Mannion left the priesthood, married and started a family. He started working at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center as a case manager and later became a nurse in the psychiatric unit.

The Vatican in 2004 laicized him.

Mannion is scheduled to stand trial on Feb. 10, 2026. He’s out of the Baltimore County Detention Center on home detention.

Criminal investigation launched over alleged sex tape involving Armenian priest

Armenia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case following the circulation of sex tapes allegedly featuring Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

The move comes amidst an escalating standoff between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government and the Armenian Apostolic Church, with critics claiming that the tape was recorded and leaked by the ruling party.

The proceedings were launched under Article 204(3)(2) of the Criminal Code – ‘violation of personal or family life by using special technical means for gathering information’. 

The case was initiated after the Union of Informed Citizens, a Yerevan-based civil society organisation, filed a complaint on 25 October reporting that a newly created Telegram channel had published explicit footage allegedly featuring Khachatryan. 

Four days later, the Prosecutor General’s Office referred the report to the Investigative Committee to decide whether to pursue full criminal proceedings.

The committee subsequently confirmed that an investigator has been assigned to review the complaint and that a formal decision would be taken within 24 hours. Officials have not yet disclosed whether Khachatryan himself has been questioned or whether the source of the recording has been identified.

Opposition politicians and rights groups have called the leak an egregious breach of privacy and a dangerous precedent. They argue that such intrusions into private life not only violate individual rights but also reflect growing tendencies of state surveillance and politically motivated smear campaigns.

The government has publicly condemned the spread of the footage, though officials stopped short of addressing suspicions that security agencies might have been aware of the recordings. 

Arayik Harutyunyan, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, said he had not viewed the materials but believed the National Security Service (NSS) was ‘taking appropriate steps to identify how this happened’. He also urged Khachatryan to personally appeal to law enforcement agencies.

In parliament, opposition MP Artsvik Minasyan questioned whether the videos had been filmed by the NSS, demanding accountability if that were the case. He further called on the government to investigate rumours linking individuals within Pashinyan’s administration to the leak. 

Harutyunyan rejected any connection between the government and the dissemination of the videos, insisting that such claims were politically motivated.

Khachatryan, who has been a vocal critic of Pashinyan, has not issued a detailed public statement beyond calling the allegations that it was him in the video, or that the video was even real, ‘vile slander’. 

The Mother See has not commented directly on the incident, but senior clergy privately described it as ‘an attack on the Church itself’.

Earlier this year, Pashinyan openly clashed with the clergy, accusing Khachatryan of moral corruption and describing him in public remarks as ‘immoral and shameless’. 

The confrontation, which began as a dispute over church authority and the government’s relationship with Catholicos Karekin II, has steadily escalated into a political and moral battle.

Former Workington priest jailed for sex offences dies in HMP Swaleside

A FORMER priest who was jailed for historic sex offences against children in Workington died in prison of natural causes, an inquest has found.

Peter Turner, 85, died of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) on February 6 at HMP Swaleside, according to an investigation report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

The former priest, known as Father Gregory Carroll, was jailed in February 2020, with a sentence of 20 years 10 months, after he admitted a string of sexual offences more than 30 years earlier against three boys aged between nine and 12.

Turner admitted 11 counts of indecent assault, two serious sexual assaults, and gross indecency with a child.

Turner was found to have abused boys at Ampleforth independent school in Yorkshire in the 1980s.

The court heard that Turner was removed from the school in 1987 and sent to work in Workington.

While in Cumbria, he abused two more boys.

Following Turner's death, NHS England commissioned an independent clinical reviewer to review Turner’s clinical care at HMP Swaleside.

The clinical reviewer concluded that the clinical care Turner received at Swaleside was of "a good standard and equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community".

A Prisons and Probation Ombudsman report said it did not find any non-clinical issues of concern, and made no recommendations.

At the inquest into his death held on October 24, the coroner concluded that Turner died from natural causes.

After his sentencing in February 2020, the then-Workington MP Mark Jenkinson said it was a 'scandal' that Turner had been sent to Cumbria to work as a priest. "I hope the victims can find closure,” he said.

During Turner's sentencing hearing, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told the defendant: "You have brought evil into this world when, by your calling, you should have brought hope, help and succour.

"Your values were not those of a man of the cloth."

Catholic priest admits sending racist messages in neo-Nazi chat

A Catholic priest who admitted discussing bombing mosques and shooting black people in the head in neo-Nazi online chatrooms has been sentenced to a 12-month community order.

Father Mark Rowles, 57, went by the name "skinheadlad1488" in a chatroom called Aryan Reich Killers to write offensive messages about Muslims.

On Thursday, Rowles, of St John Lloyd Catholic church in Cardiff, admitted three counts of sending menacing or offensive messages using the Telegram app in May and June 2024.

He will serve 150 hours community service, pay £199 in costs, and be bound by a Criminal Behaviour Order for three years. The Catholic Church in Wales will be carrying out its own review.

Rowles was arrested during an investigation by counter-terror police into extreme right wing activity using social media apps.

Rowles wrote offensive messages about Muslims, including a message where he said "bomb mosques".

In one expletive-filled message which included an extreme racial slur, he wrote, "they should all be strung up or shot".

The court was told he described himself in an online profile as a 16-year-old skinhead neo-Nazi and a loner.

His profile photo was of a young white man wearing a face covering, there was a German flag and the words "right hand path always".

Rob Simkins, prosecuting, said the messages were "hostility based on religion and race".

Anti-terror detectives traced Rowles through the Telegram app and his mobile phone.

In another discussion, in a neo-Nazi chatroom, he and another user discussed the ethnicity of Londoners.

Rowles wrote "a few bullets to their brains would help".

During police interviews, Rowles told officers he was not racist and that he joined the online groups because he was lonely and had a sexual fetish for role play.

Jacqui Seal, defending, said: "Clearly this is a disturbing case. Throughout his life in the Catholic Church he has never been the subject of a complaint or disciplinary action.

"He has no previous convictions."

A spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Wales said Rowles had not been in active ministry since the allegations were revealed.

Proceedings against bishops dropped after data scandal

The inadvertent disclosure of personal data of those affected by abuse has no consequences for the Spanish Bishops' Conference for the time being.  

According to the newspaper "El País", the Spanish data protection supervisory authority has discontinued an ex officio procedure. 

Last year, it became known that an unredacted version of an abuse report had been publicly available on the website of the Bishops' Conference for at least 18 days. 

As a result, personal information and detailed reports on offences relating to a total of 45 victims were published. 

The data protection supervisory authority reportedly established that this was the case.

The newspaper has received a decision from the data protection supervisory authority. 

According to the information, it states that the Bishops' Conference "recognised the existence of a personal data breach and took the necessary countermeasures with great speed to ensure the removal of the published information and to correct the aforementioned personal data breach". 

Therefore, the imposition of a sanction was not appropriate.

Disagreements about scope and handling

According to the newspaper's research, however, the data had been publicly accessible for longer than the authorities had assumed. 

"El País" had also informed the data protection authority about the incident. Seven people affected had also complained to the authority, forcing it to take ex officio action. 

At the time, the supervisory authority told the newspaper that the Bishops' Conference had not reported the data breach. 

Furthermore, those affected had not been informed by the Bishops' Conference. 

Data protection law provides for both.

The case is also before the Spanish courts. 

Last year, nine affected parties filed a lawsuit against the Spanish Bishops' Conference for the data protection breach. 

The current status of the proceedings is not known.

Apostolic Visitator appointed for the Emmanuel Community

The Archbishop of Dijon in France, Antoine Hérouard, is to investigate the Emmanuel charismatic community as Apostolic Visitator. 

As the Christian magazine"Tribune Chrétienne" reported on Monday, the archbishop is to accompany the community in its reorganisation, its relationship with the diocesan bishops and the handling of cases of abuse. 

Hérouard is known in Rome for his "leadership of delicate missions". He had already been responsible for a visit to the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon. There, there was criticism of the care taken in the admission of candidates for ordination and the establishment of spiritual communities from the charismatic and traditionalist spectrum.

The Vatican had already announced an apostolic visitation of the Emmanuel community in March. 

 The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity in the Vatican, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, was of the opinion, based on the available documents, "that an apostolic visit would be the appropriate way to fulfil the request of the Moderator General and the International Council for external help", it said in a letter from the Community's Moderator General at the time. 

Prior to this, there had been disputes in the movement's governing body about the future governance structures.

Dicastery wants to deepen "critical points"

According to the report, several bishops and members of the community submitted reports to the dicastery in which they expressed their concerns about the internal leadership, the centralisation of power and the difficulties of integration into diocesan life. 

The handling of cases of abuse was also criticised. 

The dicastery therefore considers it necessary to "deepen the critical points in a broader sense" and "provide the community with appropriate accompaniment", according to a decree signed on Friday.

The Emmanuel Community was founded in France in the 1970s and is charismatic in character. 

Members of the community are mainly lay people, but also priests to a lesser extent. 

Its spirituality is centred on Eucharistic adoration and praise, among other things. 

Politically, the community has campaigned against the opening up of marriage in France in 2013, among other things.

Archbishop Gänswein: The papacy would be "too big for me"

Georg Gänswein has denied his own ambitions to become Pope. 

"I never thought about it," explained the nuncio in the Baltic states in an interview with the Catholic television station "K-TV". 

In the video published on Monday, the archbishop, who comes from the Black Forest, explains: "That would be too big."

Asked whether, as the Pope's private secretary, he had sometimes thought that he himself would have preferred to make different decisions, Gänswein explained that he could not remember any internal conflict with Pope Benedict XVI over his decisions. 

There was only a "friendly clash" on the subject of sport: "He didn't like sport," Gänswein recalls. 

He himself, on the other hand, did sport as much as he could. 

Benedict XVI always found it "a bit strange" to "run after a ball or race down the slopes or climb mountains". 

He enjoyed going for walks or hiking, "but as soon as it got into more intense sporting activities, that was when the lights went out".

Pope's resignation on Rose Monday

Gänswein explained why his then boss announced his resignation as Pope on Shrove Monday of all days: "Shrove Monday in 2013 was 11 February - the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes." 

Benedict XVI had not chosen this day for his resignation because of Shrove Monday, but because there was no work in the Vatican on this day and because a meeting of cardinals had already been scheduled for this day in Rome. 

He had initially wanted to explain this important decision to the assembled cardinals. 

"The fact that the same day was also Rose Monday was not on the Vatican screen," said the former papal secretary. 

When he came to this realisation, it was too late to change his plans. 

Gänswein commented that he could "well understand" why people in Germany initially assumed that the date of the Pope's resignation was a false report.

The former private secretary of Benedict XVI describes him as a human leader: "I never experienced him as someone who was upset or even angry or shouted, but someone who was at peace with himself, who knew what he had to do and how he had to fulfil these tasks." 

He himself learnt from him how to be gentle, "which is not something that comes naturally to me". 

He had seen that tasks could be accomplished with calm and a strong faith. If faith is not the driving force behind what you do, it becomes a job, "then it becomes an activity that loses a great deal of credibility".

Five years in Vilnius

According to Gänswein, a papal nuncio is usually initially appointed for five years. 

He therefore expects his stay in Vilnius to last five years. 

"To what extent Pope Leo XIV has a different idea of what I could do or what task I could take on, I don't know." 

He is now trying to fulfil his current task wholeheartedly. 

The fear of a Russian threat is palpable in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

In view of this, the spiritual presence of the Pope in the person of the nuncio on the ground is a sign of hope for the people. 

"I have felt that time and again," said Gänswein. One of the people's basic hopes is that the Pope will help to find peace.

Vilnius as the "Rome of the North" is characterised by over forty churches. He deliberately takes walks through the old town to see the various churches and pray there. 

The two pilgrimage churches play a special role here. 

He himself feels at least "half Roman" because he has spent most of his life in Rome rather than the Black Forest.

Too much demand for papal blessing – Blessing Office puts the brakes on

Blessings from Pope Leo XIV are still in great demand: currently, no blessing certificates can be requested from the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, as the Office for Blessing Certificates announced on its website on Tuesday. 

"The parchment request service is suspended due to the daily limit reached. We apologise for the inconvenience," reads a notice displayed on the page.

The Office for Blessing Certificates is responsible for issuing Apostolic Blessings, which can be ordered online for specific occasions or collected locally in Vatican City. 

Papal blessings are granted for baptisms, first communions, confirmations, weddings, ordinations and religious profession. Blessings are also issued for anniversaries of marriage, ordination, religious orders and birthdays. 

The Blessing Office does not issue blessing certificates for other occasions.

Proceeds go to charitable causes

The Blessing Office does not charge for the blessing itself, but does charge a fee for materials and postage. 

Any surpluses generated are donated to the charitable activities carried out by the Dicastery for Charity in the name of the Pope in favour of the poor. 

It usually takes two to three weeks from order to completion of the document. Most of the documents are produced by machine and decorated by a team of eleven calligraphers.

Back in the summer, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner, reported that more requests for blessing certificates had been received than ever before: around 20,000 requests in June alone. 

Normally, the Vatican issues 12,000 to 15,000 of these documents every month. 

Even in the early days of the pontificate, the dispatch of blessings had to be temporarily suspended in order to cope with the rush.

Enoch Burke's family stop going into school since threat of sequestering cars

Members of teacher Enoch Burke's family have stopped going on to Wilson Hospital School grounds since a threat was raised of sequestering cars used by them to transport him there and of banning other family members from going on to grounds. 

Rosemary Mallon, counsel for the school board, said since the case was before the court last week, letters had been sent to certain members of the Burke family who had been filmed on the school grounds.

The letters arose out of the court's suggestion that orders in the case could be extended to banning family members, along with Enoch, from the school and two cars used to transport him to the school could be sequestered.

The court heard since this happened, no other members of the family have been on the grounds and the cars have not driven onto the grounds. 

Enoch now gets out of the car and walks into the school. 

On October 24, a security man warned him not to go in but he did so and his way was blocked by the guard and both stood there until Mr Burke left at 3.50pm. 

However, Ms Mallon said footage of the encounters with the security man was uploaded to social media by Mr Burke and once again, as happened previously, there were racist remarks made by third parties.

The case by the school seeking further contempt orders against Mr Burke was back again on Wednesday before Mr Justice Brian Cregan. He has already spent more than 500 days in prison for contempt.

He had come to court on Wednesday because he said his family had been brought into the case by the court's "own volition", threats of being barred from the school and sequestration of cars.

He said there was a repeated failure by different judges to address what this case was about.

There was now also the fact that the primary judgment of the High Court finding his suspension was lawful had been undermined by a subsequent Court of Appeal judgment in his favour in which he challenged the composition of a disciplinary appeals panel set up to hear his appeal against dismissal.

Mr Burke's submissions were marked by interruptions by various members of his family including his brother Isaac, his sister Ammi and their parents Martina and Sean.

Isaac was eventually removed by gardaí after the judge requested their intervention and other members were warned they too would be removed if they did not stop interrupting.

Enoch Burke told the judge it was because of dishonesty and "lies from the bench". 

Mr Justice Cregan said the only dishonesty had been from Enoch Burke.

Mr Burke repeatedly interrupted and tried to correct the judge in comments he made. 

This included a comment by the judge that the lawfulness of having to call someone by the they/them pronoun has to be decided by the court because it is a constitutional matter.

Mr Burke rebuked the judge for saying so as it was, he said, "patently unlawful" and he was surprised the judge did not know that. 

Mr Burke repeatedly told the judge he was lying and that Ms Mallon was also, wagging his finger at her at one stage. 

Ms Mallon rejected all his allegations and said there was no question over her professional integrity.

The court also heard the Department of Education was willing to part fund the cost of security at the school, 50% of the cost or a total of €4,400, pending further review.

Mr Burke complained that not only had his livelihood as a teacher been taken away but his bank account had been drained by the State of some €40,000 to pay €225,000 daily fines he has racked up for going into the school since this case began.

He once again refused to answer the judge's direct question of whether he would purge his contempt, describing it as a "fantastical question" which turned a blind eye to the submissions he made.

Ms Mallon said she was not seeking at this moment to extend the orders against other members of the family but if the court was minded that she should, she would have to take instructions and deal with that on another day. 

The judge said he would give his decision within weeks.

Friend offers intimate portrait of Pope Leo in new book

A new book painting a deep and intimate portrait of the longstanding friendship between Pope Leo XIV and one of his closest friends offers new insights into the pontiff and points to authentic friendship as a remedy for a polarized world.

Speaking during a recent presentation of his Spanish-language book, “Da Roberto a Leon” (From Robert to Leo), Armando Jesús Lovera Vásquez said that “Friendship is fundamental to humanity. It is key to human life” and is able “to build new bridges (and) heal wounds. There is a lot to share.”

Lovera, a former Augustinian who met then-Father Robert Prevost in 1991 and refers to the pope as his amigo de alma, said that friendship according to Augustinian spirituality is a “place of encounter (and) immense joy.”

In a brief introductory comment for the book, Pope Leo himself quoted his speech for a vigil event during the Jubilee of Young People over the summer in which he stressed the importance of friendship with Christ as the basis of faith.

“Friendship with Christ, which forms the basis of faith, is not just one aid among many others for building the future; it is our guiding star,” Leo said, saying, “love one another! Love one another in Christ! Know how to see Jesus in others. Friendship can truly change the world. Friendship is a path to peace.”

Augustinian Father Juan Antonio Cabrera Montero, who offered an extended reflection on the Augustinian notion of friendship during the Rome presentation of the book, said that authentic friendship is something that the modern world has lost, and that it is “a vocation of the church, a way of building living communities where bonds are neither power nor convenience.”

“It is a source of mission, because friendship is open to God and the service of humanity. It is a gift, it humanizes and divinizes us,” Cabrera said, saying there is a need to “recover the true meaning of humanity, of Christ’s experience with the disciples, and not only.”

Friendship is a deep experience and a school for life that offers a path forward amid division, he said, saying, “in a fragmented world, we must rediscover that friends not only accompany one another in time, but also guide one another to eternity.”

Published earlier this month with the Loyola Communications Group, the book is 171 pages and consists of 18 chapters recounting Leo’s experience of his election to the papacy, his Augustinian roots and the importance of friendship, as well as anecdotes about his friends and family, and his friendship with Lovera.

Lovera was born in Iquito, an Amazonian vicariate led by the Augustinians in Peru, and met the order there, deciding to pursue a missionary vocation. He entered the Tomás de Villanueva formation house in Trujillo, and it was there that he met then-Father Robert Prevost, who was his formator and who became a close friend.

During his Rome book presentation Lovera said that the most significant chapters of the book are the second chapter, recounting the pope’s acceptance of his election as an act of trust in God and his providence, as well as chapter 17, which offers a reflection on the pope’s parents, Louis and Mildred Prevost.

In the second chapter, Lovera recounts how after hearing Cardinal Dominique Mamberti pronounce the name “Robertum” from the balcony on the façade of Saint Peter’s Basilica, he knew instantaneously that it was his longtime best friend, Robert Francis Prevost.

“I felt a sharp edge cutting through my soul,” Lovera writes, saying he fell to his knees and began to weep, thinking about the moments they had shared together, as well as the new pope’s “know-how” of how to be with and be close to others.

Lovera reflected on how, just prior to being created a cardinal, then-Bishop Robert Prevost was asked what he liked to do in his free time.

Prevost’s response at the time, he said, was that he liked to read, walk, travel, and discover new places, but what he most enjoyed was “being with my friends. Meeting different people and learning about their gifts. This truly enriches me.”

The now-pope had said on that occasion that as an Augustinian, “living in community has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. Sharing what we’re going through, opening up to others, building together…that’s priceless. Discovering the gift of friendship leads us to Jesus himself. Having authentic friendship is beautiful. I believe it’s one of the greatest gifts God has given us.”

After getting in touch with his friend, the new pope, following his election, Lovera told Leo that he was considering writing a book about him, from the perspective of friendship, and the pope gave his blessing.

The goal of the book, then, Lovera said, was for people to see in the pope what he sees: “a friend who offers his friendship, and with it, the friendship of the one who gives meaning to life, Jesus.”

Lovera during the presentation described his friend Leo as “a very humble person” who is shy but highly intelligent and good with languages, and who always carries a sense of gratitude and is ready for the new mission entrusted to him as pope.

Leo, he said, is also someone who was close to Pope Francis and was pained by some of the criticism the Argentine pontiff faced and is someone who is stepping into the role as Francis’s successor with a lot of experience in governance and in building bridges with those who think differently.

As an example, Lovera noted that when the pope arrived in Chiclayo as its new bishop in 2015, he came after nearly 40 years of leadership by the more conservatively minded group Opus Dei and was “labeled as a progressive,” but ultimately led a diocese that was “very receptive and willing to collaborate.”

“He doesn’t destroy anything; he builds from what exists, and he does this with moments and spaces of listening. He wanted the doors of the bishopric to be open to everyone,” Lovera said, saying this can at times be frustrating and seen as a lack of action, but “the listening processes take time. We have to be bridges.”

Cabrera in his remarks on friendship said the pope’s formation in the Augustinian notion of friendship would be key not only to his personality, but also to his governance.

During his 12 years as prior general of the Augustinians, he said, Prevost “never acted like a distant sovereign or a bureaucrat. He always acted like a brother among bothers, with the responsibility of being superior and making decisions, but always reasoned.”

“Good governance is influenced by a sense of friendship. We relate to people we must love, with whom we must have a rapport,” Cabrera said, saying Leo’s governance style as pope, then, “will be a government centered on individuals.”

'Hugely positive signs of growth' as CofE attendance increases again

Attendance at Church of England churches grew for the fourth year in a row last year.

The annual Statistics for Mission findings show that the overall number of regular worshippers across Church of England’s congregations rose to 1.009 million in 2024, a rise of 0.6 per cent – and the second annual increase in a row since the pandemic.

The figures also show an increase in the number of baptisms of adults and young people. They rose to 8,700 in 2024 compared to 7,800 the previous year. There was also a rise in the number of young people, aged between 11 and 17 years old who were baptised, from 2,100 in 2023 to 2,400 last year. Confirmations also rose by 5.3 per cent from 10,700 to 11,300.

However, the figures showed the overall number of baptisms - which includes infant baptisms - fell, as the post Covid lockdown ‘catch up’ slowed.

All age average attendance on a Sunday rose 1.5 per cent to 581,000 in 2024, while  overall attendance across the week edged upwards by 1.6 cent in a year, and stood at just over 702,000 last year.

The increase was driven by a recovery in attendance by adults (over 16), among whom average Sunday attendance was up by 1.8 per cent and weekly attendance rose by 1.8 per cent.

There has been much talk recently of a 'Quiet Revival' in the number of young people coming to faith, but speaking to Premier, the Bishop of Bolton Rt Rev Dr Matthew Porter was more cautious: "It's a complex picture, but it seems to me that there is definitely something going on. And certainly in the Church of England, we're really grateful for the good work that many clergy and lay leaders are doing, working hard, calling people to faith. Cautiously, there's some really good news here, but there's lots more work to do."  

The Bishop of Colchester, Rt Rev Roger Morris, said: "Our church communities have continued to work imaginatively and enthusiastically in order to recover after the pandemic. Although not everywhere, nor to the same degree in each place, we are seeing more and more people engaging with their local church, attending enquirers’ courses, seeking baptism and confirmation and playing an active role in the church community.

"This report outlines some hugely positive signs of growth, particularly in the churches’ outreach to children and young people, a key priority for the Church of England.

"I am hearing stories every week of people in North Essex who have found peace, meaning and purpose through their involvement with the church and in their deepening faith in God."

Revised proposals for appointment of Bishop of Bangor

The Church in Wales has announced revised plans for the appointment of a new Bishop of Bangor following the retirement of the former Bishop at the end of August.

After an initial meeting of the Electoral College for the diocese, it has been decided not to take forward the election process for the time being and to seek the approval of the Church’s Governing Body for an alternative interim approach.

It is proposed that an experienced bishop should be invited to come to Bangor for a period of one to two years to provide leadership and stability and to work with the diocese to strengthen leadership, finance, governance and management.

In order to do this, the Governing Body will need to approve a motion which makes some time-limited changes to the Constitution to allow for the interim appointment. These proposals will be discussed at a special meeting of the Governing Body at Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Tuesday 25 November 2025.

The proposal, which has been endorsed by the Bangor Electoral College, and by the Standing Committee of the Church in Wales Governing Body, is the latest stage of the work being led by the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann to address what she described in her letter to members of the Governing Body as “tough financial and organisational challenges.”

In that letter, outlining the changes, she added: “The diocese of Bangor needs the whole family of the Church in Wales to support it as it navigates a time of change.”

Political leaders have duty before God to end war, pope says at peace meeting

The world is thirsting for peace and for an end to abuses of power and indifference to the rule of law, Pope Leo XIV said at an international gathering for peace.

Standing before dozens of representatives of the world’s religions and Rome’s immense Arch of Constantine, which commemorates a military victory by the ancient Roman emperor in the fourth century, Pope Leo said to applause, “Enough of war, with all the pain it causes through death, destruction and exile!”

“We must ensure that this period of history, marked by war and the arrogance of power, soon comes to an end, giving rise to a new era,” he said Oct. 28.

‘Enough! Lord, hear our cry!’

“We cannot allow this period to continue,” he said. “Enough! This is the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. Enough! Lord, hear our cry!”

The outdoor gathering marked the closing ceremony of the annual International Meeting of Dialogue and Prayer for Peace organized by the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio. More than 10,000 people took part in a series of associated talks and events held in Rome Oct. 26-28.

“The world is thirsting for peace. We need a true and sound era of reconciliation that puts an end to the abuse of power, displays of force and indifference to the rule of law,” the pope said in his address.

“We are now gathered together to proclaim a message of reconciliation,” he said, because war does nothing to help confront or resolve conflicts.

‘Powerful force for reconciliation’

“I thank you for coming here to pray for peace and for showing the world just how important prayer is” as a powerful force for reconciliation, he told ecumenical and interreligious representatives from all over the world.

“Those who practice religion without prayer run the risk of misusing it, even to the point of killing,” he said. Prayer “is not shouting words, displaying behavior or religious slogans against God’s creatures.”

“War is never holy; only peace is holy, because it is willed by God!” he said.

Prayer is “a movement of the spirit and an opening of the heart,” and, as such, can change the course of history, he said. “May places of prayer be tents of encounter, sanctuaries of reconciliation and oases of peace.”

A globalization of powerlessness

“The culture of reconciliation will overcome the current globalization of powerlessness, which seems to tell us that another era is impossible,” the pope said. Dialogue, negotiation and cooperation can address and resolve today’s tensions and conflicts; the necessary forums and people exist.

“To put an end to war is a solemn duty before God incumbent on all those holding political responsibilities,” he said. “Peace is the priority of all politics.”

As religious leaders, he said, “We must dare peace!”

The ceremony included the reading of a joint appeal for peace, which lamented the horrors of war and the growing inequalities and hatred between peoples.

Nationalism, ethnic and racial hatreds

“Old ghosts have reemerged, reviving nationalism and ethnic and racial hatreds, encouraging fear, dazzled and comforted by the production of immense wealth in the hands of very few,” the appeal said.

“Religions offer what they have received from God: love, wisdom, the value of life, forgiveness,” it said.

That is why they underlined their commitment and appeal to world leaders to “relearn the art of living together. Let us build bridges, not walls. Let us stop wars and open a time of reconciliation, for security based on dialogue and not on the escalation of arms production and threats.”

‘Abandon’ era of force

“Let us abandon the era of force and enter into an era of dialogue and negotiation, which alone can bring peace and security,” said the written appeal, which was ceremoniously handed out by 22 children as a scroll tied with a sprig from an olive tree to leaders representing the world of religion, diplomacy and civil society.

The final ceremony with Pope Leo also included an ecumenical prayer service inside the Colosseum, which has been a symbol of Christian persecution, as it is believed to have been the site of the execution of early Christians.

Joining representatives of Christian communities there, Pope Leo said, “never before has humanity so greatly needed peacemakers.”

He called on all Christians to unite their hearts and “be filled with the power of God’s love — a love capable of making possible what seems impossible in the eyes of humankind.”

‘Hasten hour of victory over evil’

“O Father, in your mercy, may our united prayer hasten the hour of victory over evil, war and terrorism; and may humanity, reconciled by the power of your Holy Spirit, be healed from all violence,” he prayed.

After the ecumenical prayer service, the pope left the Colosseum to greet and join dozens of leaders representing Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikh and other faith communities from around the world as they took to a stage in front of the Arch of Constantine.

The event was part of an annual event launched after St. John Paul II’s historic prayer for peace in Assisi Oct. 27, 1986, attended by religious leaders from all over the world

“This historic event marked a turning point in interfaith relations,” Pope Leo said in his main address, thanking Sant’Egidio and others for continuing the meetings of prayer and dialogue in the “‘spirit of Assisi,’ creating a climate of friendship among religious leaders and welcoming many appeals for peace.”

World seems to go in opposite direction

“Today, it seems that the world has gone in the opposite direction, but we embrace the challenge of Assisi and the awareness of our shared task and responsibility for peace,” he said.

The interreligious prayer initiative, he said, is also built on “the solid foundation” of “Nostra Aetate,” the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on the church’s relationship to other religions, which was promulgated exactly 60 years ago: Oct. 28, 1965.

“All believers are brothers and sisters. And religions, as ‘mothers,’ must encourage peoples to treat each other as family, not as enemies,” he said.

“Together we reaffirm our commitment to dialogue and to fraternity,” he added.

“Even if the world turns a deaf ear” to their appeal for world peace, he said, “we are certain that God will hear our prayer and the cries of so many who suffer. God wants a world without war. He will free us from this evil!”

Interreligious dialogue is ‘way of life’ for Catholic Church, pope says

For the Catholic Church, interreligious dialogue “is not a tactic or a tool, but a way of life — a journey of the heart that transforms everyone involved, the one who listens and the one who speaks,” Pope Leo XIV said.

Dialogue is a journey that people walk “not by abandoning our own faith but by standing firmly within it,” he said. “For authentic dialogue begins not in compromise, but in conviction — in the deep roots of our own beliefs that give us the strength to reach out to others in love.”

‘Nostra Aetate’ turns 60

Pope Leo made the remarks Oct. 28 at a nighttime celebration marking the 60th anniversary of “Nostra Aetate,” the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on relations with Judaism, Islam and other world religions.

The original document, signed by St. Paul VI was placed on the stage in the Vatican audience hall for the event, along with an oil lamp from Assisi and an olive tree, a symbol of peace.

At the beginning of the event, more than 80 representatives of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism and African Traditional Religions filed into the hall behind a Sri Lankan Buddhist dance troupe and accompanied by children from an Italian choir.

400 scholars in attendance

Many of the leaders had personally greeted Pope Leo earlier in the evening at Rome’s Colosseum where they took part in a meeting of religions for peace sponsored by the Community of Sant’Egidio. About 400 of the 3,000 people in attendance were scholars participating in a three-day conference on “Nostra Aetate” at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.

In his remarks, Pope Leo noted how the declaration began as a treatise “describing a new relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism. We can say, therefore, that the fourth chapter, dedicated to Judaism, is the heart and generative core of the entire declaration.”

“For the first time in the history of the church, we have a doctrinal text with an explicitly theological basis that illustrates the Jewish roots of Christianity in a well-founded biblical manner,” the pope said. “At the same time, Nostra Aetate takes a firm stand against all forms of antisemitism.”

What the document teaches

The declaration “teaches that we cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a brotherly or sisterly way any man or woman created in the image of God,” Pope Leo said. “Indeed, the church rejects all forms of discrimination or harassment because of race, color, condition of life or religion.”

With “Nostra Aetate,” he said, ” a seed of hope for interreligious dialogue was planted. Today, your presence bears witness that this seed has grown into a mighty tree, its branches reaching far and wide, offering shelter and bearing the rich fruits of understanding, friendship, cooperation and peace.”

At the end of the evening, the children gave each participant a small bag of seeds, symbolizing the shared mission to continue planting seeds of dialogue and hope for future generations.

Principles that remain ‘highly relevant’

Pope Leo listed four teachings of “Nostra Aetate” that he said remain “highly relevant today”:

— “Humanity is drawing closer together,” and it is “the task of the church to promote unity and love among men and women, and among nations.”

— “It points to what we all share in common. We belong to one human family — one in origin and one also in our final goal. Moreover, every person seeks answers to the great riddles of the human condition.”

— All religions “try to respond to the restlessness of the human heart. Each, in its own way, offers teachings, ways of life and sacred rites that help guide their followers toward peace and meaning.”

— “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions, which ‘reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all people.’ She regards them with sincere reverence and invites her sons and daughters, through dialogue and collaboration, to recognize, preserve and promote what is spiritually, morally and culturally good in all peoples.”

‘We see walls rising again’

Sixty years after the church called people “to look beyond what separates us and to discover what unites us all,” he said, people struggle to do so. “We see walls rising again — between nations, between religions, even between neighbors.”

“The noise of conflict, the wounds of poverty and the cry of the earth remind us how fragile our human family remains,” Pope Leo said.

“As religious leaders, guided by the wisdom of our respective traditions,” he said, “we share a sacred responsibility: to help our people to break free from the chains of prejudice, anger and hatred; to help them rise above egoism and self-centeredness; to help them overcome the greed that destroys both the human spirit and the earth.”

When so many people are tempted to despair, Pope Leo said, religious leaders must “reawaken in all men and women their sense of humanity and of the sacred” and work “to keep hope alive, to keep dialogue alive and to keep love alive in the heart of the world.”

Pope Leo XIV: ‘If we are united, everything is possible’

At a time when so many people and the planet are suffering, the world’s religions need to come together to promote truth, compassion, reconciliation, justice and peace, Pope Leo XIV said.

“Today we are called upon to rekindle that hope in our world, devastated by war and our degraded natural environment,” the pope said Oct. 29 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“Let us collaborate, because if we are united, everything is possible. Let us ensure that nothing divides us,” he said, addressing the many representatives of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism and other religions that were present at the audience.

Many of the leaders had been in Rome for a meeting of religions for peace sponsored by the Community of Sant’Egidio and a series of events, including a nighttime celebration Oct. 28, marking the 60th anniversary of “Nostra Aetate,” the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on relations with Judaism, Islam and other world religions.

In fact, Pope Leo set aside his ongoing series of audience talks on the Jubilee theme, “Jesus Christ our Hope,” to dedicate the Oct. 29 audience to “Nostra Aetate,” which was promulgated 60 years ago: Oct. 28, 1965.

Jewish-Catholic dialogue

The first focus of the landmark document “was toward the Jewish world,” the pope said. “For the first time in the history of the church, a doctrinal treatise on the Jewish roots of Christianity was to take shape, which on a biblical and theological level would represent a point of no return.”

While much has been achieved in Jewish-Catholic dialogue over the past six decades, he said, “we cannot deny that there have been misunderstandings, difficulties and conflicts in this period, but these have never prevented the dialogue from continuing.”

“Even today, we must not allow political circumstances and the injustices of some to divert us from friendship, especially since we have achieved so much so far,” he said.

Quoting “Nostra Aetate,” the Catholic Church, “mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of antisemitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone,” he said to applause.

“Since then, all my predecessors have condemned antisemitism with clear words,” Pope Leo said. “And so I too confirm that the church does not tolerate antisemitism and fights against it, on the basis of the Gospel itself,” which was also followed by applause.

“The spirit of ‘Nostra Aetate’ continues to illuminate the path of the church,” which recognizes that all religions can reflect “a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men,” he said, citing the document.

‘Our world needs our unity’

Today, more than ever, he said, all of the world’s religions need to act together. “Our world needs our unity, our friendship and our collaboration.”

“Each one of our religions can contribute to alleviating human suffering and taking care of our common home, our planet Earth,” he said. “Our respective traditions teach truth, compassion, reconciliation, justice and peace. We must reaffirm service to humanity at all times.”

In addition to remaining “vigilant against the abuse of the name of God, of religion and of dialogue itself, as well as against the dangers posed by religious fundamentalism and extremism,” he said, “we must also face the responsible development of artificial intelligence.”

If AI is intended to be “an alternative to humans, it can gravely violate their infinite dignity and neutralize their fundamental responsibilities,” the pope said. “Our traditions have an immense contribution to make to the humanization of technology and therefore to inspire its regulation, to protect fundamental human rights.”

“The declaration invites all Catholics — bishops, clergy, consecrated persons and lay faithful — to involve themselves sincerely in dialogue and in collaboration with the followers of other religions, recognizing and promoting all that is good, true and holy in their traditions,” Pope Leo said.

“‘Nostra Aetate’ reminds us that true dialogue is rooted in love, the only foundation of peace, justice and reconciliation, whereas it firmly rejects every form of discrimination or persecution, affirming the equal dignity of every human being,” he said.

“We must restore hope to our personal lives, our families, our neighborhoods, our schools, our villages, our countries and our world,” he said. “This hope is based on our religious convictions, on the conviction that a new world is possible.”

Concluding his remarks, Pope Leo then led a moment of silent prayer since “prayer has the power to transform our attitudes, our thoughts, our words and our actions.”

How are doctors of the church chosen? Here’s a look at the process before Newman declaration

With Pope Leo XIV set to proclaim of St. John Henry Newman as a doctor of the church Nov. 1, let’s consider what criterion is used to make this decision, whether a layperson could be named a doctor and what sort of writings church doctors must have produced to be given this title.

First of all, the word “doctor” in this sense does not refer to the person who treats your flu. Nor to someone who fixes the ailments of the Catholic Church. 

The word comes from the Latin verb “docere,” meaning “to teach,” and so a “doctor” in Latin is a teacher.

This meaning is preserved in the academic world, where the highest degree awarded is a doctorate.

3 requirements for title

In order for someone to receive the title doctor of the church, there are three requirements.

The first is that the person must be eminent in doctrine, and naturally their writings must be faithful to church teaching.

If, like Newman, they had been a non-Catholic for a time and had written something that was not orthodox, those writings would be ignored in favour of their writings as a Catholic. 

Similarly, ecclesiastical writers who embraced certain heresies of their day, like Origen and Tertullian, cannot be doctors of the church, even though their other writings are frequently quoted.

Writings must be eminent

While a doctor’s writings must be eminent, of importance for the church, it is not required that they be numerous.

For example, while St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas left copious writings, others like St. Catherine of Siena and St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote comparatively little.

The second requirement is that the doctors themselves must have a high degree of holiness and be canonized saints.

Thus, an eminent theologian such as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — Pope Benedict XVI — could not be named a doctor of the church, unless he were first canonized.

Pope is one who names doctors

And third, it must be the pope himself who names someone a doctor of the church. 

The first pope to do so was Pope Boniface VIII, who in 1298 proclaimed as doctors the four great Western Fathers of the Church, Sts. Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory the Great.

Corresponding to these were four great Eastern Fathers of the same period, Sts. John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Athanasius.

Although they had been considered as doctors early on, it was Pope Pius V who officially recognized them as such in 1568. Pope Pius V also declared his fellow Dominican St. Thomas Aquinas a doctor, and Pope Sixtus V added St. Bonaventure in 1588.

Number remained at 10 until 18th century

The number of doctors remained at 10 until the 18th century, when the number gradually increased up to our own time.

At present, counting St. John Henry Newman, there are 38 doctors of the church. Four of these are women: Sts. Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Thérèse of Lisieux and Hildegard of Bingen.

As regards whether a layperson can be named a doctor of the church, St. Catherine of Siena was a laywoman, a member of what would later become the Third Order of St. Dominic.

Most recent declared doctors

The most recent saints to be declared doctors were St. Thérèse of Lisieux by St. John Paul II in 1997, Sts. John of Avila and Hildegard of Bingen by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, Sts. Gregory of Narek and Irenaeus of Lyon by Pope Francis in 2022, and St. John Henry Newman by Pope Leo XIV in 2025, on the feast of All Saints.

In recent times, a number of recommendations have been recommended for being named doctors of the church.

An obvious one is St. John Paul II. In October 2019, the Polish bishops’ conference formally petitioned Pope Francis to consider making him a doctor of the church in recognition of his contributions to theology, philosophy and Catholic literature, as well as the numerous formal documents of his papacy.

St. Teresa Benedicta

Another one is St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a Discalced Carmelite, who was born Edith Stein (1891-1942).

She had studied philosophy under the phenomenologist Edmund Husserl and wrote several books on philosophy, striving to combine phenomenology with the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. She was murdered in the gas chamber at the concentration camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau on Aug. 9, 1942. She came from a German Jewish family and converted to Catholicism in 1922.

In April 2024 during a private audience, the superior general of the Discalced Carmelites, Father Miguel Márquez Calle, made a formal request to Pope Francis to declare her a doctor of the church.

Proclamation of St. Newman as doctor of church signals Catholic revival at Oxford

When St. John Henry Newman is proclaimed a doctor of the church on Nov. 1, staff and students at his old university will be counting on a boost of confidence for Oxford’s once-excluded Catholics.

“Newman had a huge influence during his lifetime and drew a lot of people into the church,” explained Alvea Fernandez, from Oxford University’s Catholic chaplaincy.

“Seeing a relatively recent Oxford figure elevated this way now has encouraged people to talk more openly about their faith.”

Will become church’s 38th doctor

The lay chaplain spoke with OSV News as members of the ancient university prepared to travel to Rome for the All Saints’ Day ceremony, which will see the one-time Protestant declared the Catholic Church’s 38th doctor. 

She said 2025 had seen an upturn in people wishing to become Catholic or renew their faith as Catholics, as well as a keen interest in local sites associated with Newman’s conversion and witness.  

Meanwhile, a prominent Catholic student told OSV News St. Newman’s recognition had raised the profile of church members at the university, with a record number of Catholic first-year students admitted this October.

“Oxford University hasn’t been the most accepting of places for Catholics,” said Adam Gardner, president of the university’s Newman Society, founded as a Catholic club in 1878. 

More awareness of Catholics at Oxford

“But it feels as if Oxford is becoming more Catholic, and I think this will provide another catalyst for awareness-raising.”

Born in London, St. Newman (1801-1890) studied at Oxford’s Trinity College in 1816-1822, later co-founding the reformist Oxford Movement while serving as vicar of St. Mary the Virgin’s university church.

After quitting his posts to become a Catholic in 1845, he founded a church and community at nearby Littlemore, creating a vast output of works that have made him one of the Christian world’s most studied figures. 

Made a cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII, St. Newman became the first English non-martyr saint for six centuries when canonized in October 2019, and has given his name to numerous schools and colleges, as well as an oratory and university in Birmingham, where he lived in later life.

Pulpit used by St. Newman

Lord Neil Mendoza, provost of Oriel College, where the saint served as a fellow and became an Anglican priest, said he had been “reminded many times” of St. Newman’s “profound impact” on university life, while St. Mary the Virgin’s current vicar, Father William Lamb, told OSV News many pilgrims were now coming to see the pulpit from which St. Newman preached his famous sermons.

“While people will want to celebrate Newman’s theological views about conscience, the role of laity and the development of doctrine, he’s also an important figure for the field of education,” Father Lamb told OSV News.

“His writings will stimulate sustained reflection about what a university education can contribute to human flourishing.”

Oxford once excluded Catholics

Catholics were excluded from Oxford University after the 16th-century Reformation, and while their access to higher education was made possible under a 1829 Relief Act, restrictions remained in place until recusancy laws were repealed in 1888.

The university numbers 57 beatified Catholic martyrs among alumni, commemorated annually on Dec. 1, while its 15 saints include St. Thomas More (1478-1535), who was university chancellor, and St. Edmund Campion (1540-1581), a Jesuit and a fellow of St. John’s College, who was hanged and dismembered at Tyburn in London alongside a younger Oxford graduate, St. Ralph Sherwin.

A small chapel, built by Jesuit priests, became the city’s first legal Catholic place of worship in 1793, while a discreetly located Oratory Church of St. Aloysius opened in 1875. 

Couldn’t enroll until the 1890s

However, Catholics were not allowed to enroll at the university until the 1890s with the foundation of a Catholic chaplaincy and two private Catholic study centers.    

Father William Pearsall, a priest at the Jesuit-run Campion Hall, said St. Newman had “turned himself into an outcast” with his Catholic conversion, but had later helped Catholicism gain acceptance as “truly English” through his “scholarship and Christian character.”

Later wartime heroism by local Catholics had improved the community’s profile, Father Pearsall told OSV News. The university is now home to many Catholic lecturers and professors, while Masses are celebrated routinely in most college chapels.

World’s No. 1 university

Not everyone shares the enthusiasm at Oxford of St. Newman becoming doctor of the church, which was named the world’s No. 1 university for the eighth year running in a recent survey.

The university’s main website makes no mention of St. Newman’s elevation, while Trinity College, which the saint remembered warmly from his undergraduate studies, records that the saint will receive “one of Catholic Church’s highest honors.”

Prominent Oxford Anglicans have also been wary of St. Newman’s new lofty status, aware that the saint, after deep reflection, repudiated their church’s much-vaunted “via media,” or middle way.

Anglican church historian

Diarmaid MacCulloch, one of Britain’s best known Anglican church historians, now a fellow and archivist at the Catholic Campion Hall, said some colleagues have questioned his historic importance.

“Newman was a remarkably accomplished writer, with a beautiful literary style, who cleverly developed an idea of development which justified Roman Catholic doctrines not immediately obvious from early church history,” MacCulloch, who was Oxford’s church history professor in 1997-2019, told OSV News.

“While his conversion to Rome was a sensation at the time, however, I’ve never felt he said anything of particular interest or originality.” 

St. Peter’s Square ceremony

Back among the cobbled alleyways and cloisters where the church’s latest doctor once taught and ministered, the upcoming St. Peter’s Square ceremony, to be led by Pope Leo XIV, remains a topic of conversation.

Adam Gardner, the Newman Society president, said attendance at Mass and Catholic events in Oxford has grown steadily over the past decade, in an officially Protestant country where practicing Catholics are now thought to outnumber Anglicans by a ratio of 2-to-1.

He’s enthusiastic about the increasing Catholic presence in the university’s teaching and administrative structures, and hopes many more people will be brought to the faith by St. Newman’s example.

Oxford ‘past and present’

For all his scepticism, MacCulloch concedes the new prominence given to Catholicism by St. Newman’s elevation underlines an “essential aspect of Oxford past and present.”

“Newman made a genuine career sacrifice by moving to Rome, which was remedied by his canonization — it’s appropriate and good that Oxford’s Catholic traditions are being evoked this way,” the veteran historian told OSV News.

“Newman himself would no doubt have professed himself overwhelmed and humbled — but I’m sure a bit of him would have been rather pleased.”