Archbishop speaks out about Abortion Adverts

The new Archbishop of Westminster wants the 4.2 million Roman Catholics in England and Wales to take a stand against proposals to allow abortion services to advertise on television and radio.

Last month, in an attempt to cut Britain's soaring teenage pregnancy rate, the Committee of Advertising Practice and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice announced proposals to relax the rules on condom advertising and allow pro-abortion services to advertise on television for the first time

Archbishop Nichols, who has already forced the Government to change its mind over non-religious quotas for faith schools and campaigned against gay adoptions, said that current television advertising for condoms demeaned young people by depicting “casual sex on the street corner” and “drunken sex”.

In an interview to mark Good Friday, the day that Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus, he urged Catholics to respond to a consultation exercise on the proposed changes. The country would not expect abortion to be advertised “alongside a packet of crisps”, he said.

“I would appeal to Catholics to respond to the consultation. Two of the principles put forward are that advertisements should be truthful and tasteful.

“I doubt that any intended adverts about abortion would be fully truthful and tell the whole truth of the effects of abortion in a woman’s life. I seriously wonder if any advertisements for the use of condoms would be tasteful because the ones we have at the moment are demeaning of the young people of this country.

"They depict casual sex on the street corner and drunken sex. I do not think these things do anything to genuinely help young people to understand themselves in their own dignity and in the proper meaning of what human sexuality is about.

“I know the media likes to say its task is to reflect reality, but the media always has a responsibility to put something in front of people to which they can aspire and it has an educative function as well. I think often what is on the television screen in these matters sells the young people of this country woefully short.”

Archbishop Nichols said that the Catholic Church’s teaching on sexual morality presented a “high ideal” and he acknowledged the struggle in people’s lives to live in accordance with the dignity given by God.

See Ruth Gledhill`s blog in The Times for the full story.

A Very Good start for the Archbishop`s episcopate notwithstanding the offensive piece about him in The Tablet.

The Glorification of the Cross

Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610)
Glorification of the Cross c.1605
part of The Frankfurt Altarpiece of the Exaltation of the True Cross
Oil on copper,
19 x 14 1/8 inches (48.5 x 36 cm)
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt

The work can be seen in its full glory on the website of Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt


The picture above is regarded as the masterpiece of Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610)

He was a German artist working in Rome who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century.

He converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism while living in Rome. He married there and had one son.

Unfortunately he appears to have suffered from some kind of depressive illness. His output was small. He lived in financial streights.

In early 1600, he arrived in Rome. He played a crucial part in the formation of three of the most important artists of the seventeenth century: Rubens, Rembrandt and Claude Lorrain

Rubens was a friend of Elsheimer and after his death lamented what he saw as his `sin of sloth,(probably caused by depression) by which he has deprived the world of the most beautiful things'; he also wrote `I have never seen his equal in the realm of small figures, of landscapes, and of so many other subjects.'

In this picture we see that

"The cross as the focal point of the "gloria del paradiso" is revered by the saints and the elect of the heavenly realm who surround the cross on banks of clouds. On the right, we recognize the patriarchs, including Moses, Abraham and King David. We also see Jonas sitting on the fish, looking up towards the cross, and St Catherine and Mary Magdalene in a sisterly embrace. In the foreground, there is a disputation between St Sebastian and Pope Gregory, St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Augustine, with the first Christian martyrs St Stephen and St Laurence. The cross, clutched by a kneeling female figure who is probably an embodiment of Faith, is surrounded by angels bearing the instruments of the Passion, above which we can make out the Evangelists and Apostles. At the head of a procession of angels streaming into the dazzling light of the background, which is flooded with an overwhelming brightness, we can see the Coronation of the Virgin."
(Web Gallery of Art)

Luco dei Marsi, Abruzzo.

There has been a church at Luco dei Marsi, Abruzzo since at least AD 930

Sometimes the churches fell down, were destroyed: but they were either restored or reconstructed.

This church building dates from the 12th or 13th Century. In the 18th century it was used as sepulcural chapel. It was restored in 1922 and again more recently in the 1990s.



These are the ruins of a Benedictine monastery next to the Church.

It was destroyed then retored. It was completly destroyed in 1915 by an earthquake.

The path beside it is called il sentiero delle anime (the path of souls).

Flower Garland

Daniel Seghers (1590-1661)
Flower Garland with the Holy Sacrament and an Angel's Head [About 1645-61]
Oil on canvas,
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Plants such as roses, thistles and blackthorn evoke Christ's suffering.

Corn and grapes refer to the bread and wine of the Mass.

The four Evangelists are represented by their symbols: an angel's head, a lion, an ox and an eagle.

Abruzzo Last Supper

LÀquila and surrounding towns and villages have been devastated by the recent earthquake. LÀquila is the capital of the Abruzzo province.

Near LÀquila is the old medieval town of Fossa.

At the northern end of the village of Fossa there is the 13th century Church of Santa Maria delle Grotte (or ad Cryptas), with an austere exterior, and which has two fresco cycles amongst the oldest and best preserved of the Abruzzo Middle Ages.

The church, of Cistercian origin, owes its name to the presence of a little crypt in which there is a simple altar.

In its interior, there are extraordinary frescoes realised in two phases: the first cycle in the late 13th century (Cycle of the Months, the Last Judgement, the Last Supper, The Arrest, the Flagellation, the Crucifixion, the Burial) and the second in the 14th century (San Gioacchino amongst shepherds, Meeting at the Porta Aurea, Annunciation, Nativity and Domitio ). New frescoes were added between the 15th and 16th centuries.

Unfortunately it is reported that the Church has suffered damage as a result of the quake.

The area around Mount Ocre (2204 metres), is renowned for its numerous medieval religious structures and other buildings erected during the Middle Ages.

See the website of Santa Maria ad Cryptas

Palm Sunday

Romare Bearden, (September 2, 1911–March 12, 1988)
Palm Sunday Procession, 1967-1968
Collage of various papers with paint on fiberboard
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

John Martin

John Martin 1789-1854
The Last Judgement 1853
Oil on canvas 1968 x 3258 mm
The Tate Britain, London

IN his day John Martin drew larger crowds to exhibitions of his paintings than did Turner.

He was popular for his scenes of cataclysmic events crowded with tiny figures placed in vast architectural settings.

He caught the public imagination with spectacular paintings such as Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still (United Grand Lodge of Great Britain, London, 1816), the work that made him famous

Of one of his paintings, the eccentric, English dilettante, William Beckford wrote:

'I have been three times running to the exhibition ... to admire 'The Capture of Babylon' by Martin. He adds the greatest distinction to contemporary art. Oh, what a sublime thing.'

During the last four years of his life Martin was engaged upon a triptych of very large biblical subjects: The Last Judgment, The Great Day of His Wrath, and The Plains of Heaven.

This is the central painting of Martin’s three ‘judgement pictures’. It illustrates the main event in the book of Revelation. God sits enthroned in the heavens, surrounded by the four-and-twenty elders. At lower right the forces of evil, led by Satan, are defeated and tumble into a bottomless pit.To the left is Mount Zion, where the good, already in ‘the plains of heaven’, are waiting for their call to appear before the throne. Among them are numerous artists and poets. Martin published a chart to accompany the picture and identify them, as well as many of the evil characters

Teaching about St Joseph

Pope Benedict XVI leads Vespers in the Marie Reine des Apôtres Basilica, in Yaoundé 18th March 2009

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass in the Amadou Ahidjo stadium, in Yaoundé ,Cameroon, Thursday, March 19, 2009

Faithful attend Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at the Amadou Ahidjo stadium, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Thursday, March 19, 2009.

For us in the West, the newscoverage of the Pope`s trip to Africa was overwhelmed and "hi-jacked" by the "coverage" given to the Pope`s off-the-cuff comment regarding the use of condoms

Which is a pity.

We missed the sights of many throngs of joyful people coming out to welcome and greet the Pope and to consider his words to them

Part of his trip occurred on March 19th - the Feast of St Joseph

At least three of his talks concerned St Joseph. Here they are. Perhaps we shall recall them again next year on the feast of St Joseph 2010 if not before.

He stressed a number of important points:

1. St Joseph as an important examplar to be followed by priests, those in the consecrated life and in lay engagements as well as husbands and parents
2. The relationship of St Joseph and Mary
3. The relationship of St Joseph and Jesus

At Vespers at the Basilica of Marie, Reine des Apôtres in the Mvolyé neighbourhood - Yaoundé,on Wednesday, 18 March 2009, he said:

""Origen writes that “Joseph understood that Jesus was superior to him even as he submitted to him, and, knowing the superiority of his charge, he commanded him with respect and moderation. Everyone should reflect on this: frequently a lesser man is placed over people who are greater, and it happens at times that an inferior is more worthy than the one who appears to be set above him. If a person of greater dignity understands this, then he will not be puffed up with pride because of his higher rank; he will know that his inferior may well be superior to him, even as Jesus was subject to Joseph” (Homily on Saint Luke XX, 5; S.C. p. 287).

Dear brothers in the priesthood, your pastoral ministry demands many sacrifices, yet it is also a source of great joy. Trusting in your Bishops, united fraternally to the whole presbyterate and supported by the portion of the People of God commended to your care, you will be able to respond faithfully to the Lord who has called you, just as he called Joseph to watch over Mary and the Child Jesus! May you always remain faithful, dear priests, to the promises that you made to God before your Bishop and in the presence of the whole community. The Successor of Peter thanks you for your generous devotion to the service of the Church, and he urges you not to be troubled by the difficulties you encounter along the way. To the young men who are preparing to join you, and to those still discerning a priestly vocation, I hold out once more the joy that comes from giving oneself completely to the service of God and the Church. Be courageous, then, and generously say “yes” to Christ!

Dear brothers and sisters who live out your commitment in the consecrated life or in ecclesial movements, I also encourage you to look to Saint Joseph. When Mary received the visit of the angel at the Annunciation, she was already betrothed to Joseph. In addressing Mary personally, the Lord already closely associates Joseph to the mystery of the Incarnation. Joseph agreed to be part of the great events which God was beginning to bring about in the womb of his spouse. He took Mary into his home. He welcomed the mystery that was in Mary and the mystery that was Mary herself. He loved her with great respect, which is the mark of all authentic love. Joseph teaches us that it is possible to love without possessing. In contemplating Joseph, all men and women can, by God’s grace, come to experience healing from their emotional wounds, if only they embrace the plan that God has begun to bring about in those close to him, just as Joseph entered into the work of redemption through Mary and as a result of what God had already done in her. Dear brothers and sisters from the ecclesial movements, may you be attentive to those around you, and may you reveal the loving face of God to the poor, especially by your works of mercy, your human and Christian education of young people, your programmes for the advancement of women, and in so many other ways!

The spiritual contribution offered by consecrated persons is likewise significant and indispensable for the life of the Church. This call to follow Christ is a gift for the whole People of God. According to your vocation, that of imitating Christ, chaste, poor and obedient, totally consecrated to the glory of his Father and the love of his brothers and sisters, you have the mission of bearing much-needed witness before our world to the primacy of God and of eternal life (cf. Vita Consecrata, 85). By your unreserved fidelity to your commitments, you are for the Church a sapling of life, springing up to serve the coming of God’s Kingdom. At all times, and especially whenever your fidelity is put to the test, Saint Joseph reminds you of the value and meaning of your promises. The consecrated life is a radical imitation of Christ. Hence the way you live ought to show clearly what inspires you, and your actions must not conceal your deepest identity. Do not be afraid of living to the full the self-offering that you have made to God, bearing authentic witness to it wherever you find yourselves. One particular example that can encourage you to strive for holiness of life is that of Father Simon Mpeke, known as Baba Simon. All of you know how this “barefooted missionary” spent all his energies with selfless humility in the loving service of souls, heedless of the cares and sufferings involved in the material service of others.

Dear brothers and sisters, our meditation on the human and spiritual journey of Saint Joseph invites us to ponder his vocation in all its richness, and to see him as a constant model for all those who have devoted their lives to Christ in the priesthood, in the consecrated life or in the different forms of lay engagement. Joseph was caught up at every moment by the mystery of the Incarnation. Not only physically, but in his heart as well, Joseph reveals to us the secret of a humanity which dwells in the presence of mystery and is open to that mystery at every moment of everyday life. In Joseph, faith is not separated from action. His faith had a decisive effect on his actions. Paradoxically, it was by acting, by carrying out his responsibilities, that he stepped aside and left God free to act, placing no obstacles in his way. Joseph is a “just man” (Mt 1:19) because his existence is “ad-justed” to the word of God.

The life of Saint Joseph, lived in obedience to God’s word, is an eloquent sign for all the disciples of Jesus who seek the unity of the Church. His example helps us to understand that it is only by complete submission to the will of God that we become effective workers in the service of his plan to gather together all mankind into one family, one assembly, one “ecclesia”. Dear friends from other Christian confessions, this quest for unity among the disciples of Christ represents a great challenge for us. It leads us first of all to be converted to the Person of Christ, to let ourselves be drawn more and more to him. In him, we are called to acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters, children of the same Father. During this year dedicated to the Apostle Paul, the great herald of Jesus Christ and the Apostle of the Nations, let us all turn towards him so as to hear and learn “the faith and truth” which are the deepest reasons for the unity of Christ’s disciples.

In conclusion, let us now turn to the spouse of Saint Joseph, the Virgin Mary, “Queen of Apostles”, for under this title she is invoked as Patroness of Cameroon. To her I commend the consecration which each of you has received, as well as your desire to respond ever more faithfully to your calling and to the mission entrusted to you. Finally, I invoke her intercession for your beautiful country. Amen."

At the Cardinal Paul Emile Léger Centre - CNRH of Yaoundé on Thursday, 19 March 2009, he said:

"Saint Teresa of Avila, who placed her monastery under the protection of Saint Joseph, was healed from a particular ailment on the very day of his feast. She said she had never prayed to him in vain, and she recommended him to all who claimed not to know how to pray: “I do not understand”, she wrote, “how anyone can think of the Queen of angels and of all the trials she suffered during the early years of the divine child Jesus, without thanking Saint Joseph for the perfect devotion with which he came to assist them both. May anyone who lacks a teacher of prayer choose this admirable Saint as a master, for under his guidance no one need be afraid of going astray” (Life, 6). Saint Teresa saw in Saint Joseph not only an intercessor for bodily health, but also an intercessor for the health of the soul, a teacher of prayer.

Dear friends who are sick, we too can choose him as a teacher of prayer, whatever our state of health, and all families can do the same. I am thinking especially of hospital staff, and all those who work in the field of health care. By accompanying those who suffer, through the care and attention you offer them, you accomplish an act of charity and love that God recognizes: “I was sick, and you visited me” (Mt 25:36). All of you, doctors and researchers, have the task of putting into practice every legitimate form of pain relief; you are called, in the first place, to protect human life, you are the defenders of life from conception to natural death. For every person, respect for life is a right and at the same time a duty, since all life is a gift from God. With you, I would like to give thanks to the Lord for all who, in one way or another, work in the service of the suffering. I encourage priests and those who visit the sick to commit themselves to an active and friendly presence in their hospital chaplaincy, or to assure an ecclesial presence in the home, for the comfort and spiritual support of the sick. In accordance with his promise, God will give you a just reward, and he will recompense you in heaven.

Before greeting you more personally, and then taking my leave, I would like to assure each of you of my affection and my prayer. I also want to express my wish that none of you should ever feel alone. In fact it is the task of every human person, created in the image of Christ, to be a good neighbour to those around him. I entrust all of you to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, our Mother, and to the intercession of Saint Joseph. May God grant that we become bearers for one another of the mercy, tenderness and love of our God, and may he bless you! "


In his Homily at Amadou Ahidjo Stadium of Yaoundé on Thursday 19 March 2009, he said:

""Dear Brother Bishops,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Praised be Jesus Christ who has gathered us in this stadium today that we may enter more deeply into His life!

Jesus Christ brings us together on this day when the Church, here in Cameroon and throughout the world, celebrates the Feast of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Virgin Mary. I begin by wishing a very happy feast day to all those who, like myself, have received the grace of bearing this beautiful name, and I ask Saint Joseph to grant them his special protection in guiding them towards the Lord Jesus Christ all the days of their life. I also extend cordial best wishes to all the parishes, schools, colleges, and institutions named after Saint Joseph. I thank Archbishop Tonyé-Bakot of Yaoundé for his kind words, and I warmly greet the representatives of the African Episcopal Conferences who have come to Yaoundé for the promulgation of the Instrumentum Laboris of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.

How can we enter into the specific grace of this day? In a little while, at the end of Mass, the liturgy will remind us of the focal point of our meditation when it has us pray: “Lord, today you nourish us at this altar as we celebrate the feast of Saint Joseph. Protect your Church always, and in your love watch over the gifts you have given us.” We are asking the Lord to protect the Church always – and he does! – just as Joseph protected his family and kept watch over the child Jesus during his early years.

Our Gospel reading recalls this for us. The angel said to Joseph: “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home,” (Mt 1:20) and that is precisely what he did: “he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (Mt 1:24). Why was Saint Matthew so keen to note Joseph’s trust in the words received from the messenger of God, if not to invite us to imitate this same loving trust?

Although the first reading which we have just heard does not speak explicitly of Saint Joseph, it does teach us a good deal about him. The prophet Nathan, in obedience to God’s command, tells David: “I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins” (2 Sam 7:12). David must accept that he will die before seeing the fulfilment of this promise, which will come to pass “when (his) time comes” and he will rest “with (his) ancestors”. We thus come to realize that one of mankind’s most cherished desires – seeing the fruits of one’s labours – is not always granted by God. I think of those among you who are mothers and fathers of families. Parents quite rightly desire to give the best of themselves to their children, and they want to see them achieve success. Yet make no mistake about what this “success” entails: what God asks David to do is to place his trust in him. David himself will not see his heir who will have a throne “firm for ever” (2 Sam 7:16), for this heir, announced under the veil of prophecy, is Jesus. David puts his trust in God. In the same way, Joseph trusts God when he hears his messenger, the Angel, say to him: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her” (Mt 1:20). Throughout all of history, Joseph is the man who gives God the greatest display of trust, even in the face of such astonishing news.

Dear fathers and mothers here today, do you have trust in God who has called you to be the fathers and mothers of his adopted children? Do you accept that he is counting on you to pass on to your children the human and spiritual values that you yourselves have received and which will prepare them to live with love and respect for his holy name? At a time when so many people have no qualms about trying to impose the tyranny of materialism, with scant concern for the most deprived, you must be very careful. Africa in general, and Cameroon in particular, place themselves at risk if they do not recognize the True Author of Life! Brothers and sisters in Cameroon and throughout Africa, you who have received from God so many human virtues, take care of your souls! Do not let yourselves be captivated by selfish illusions and false ideals! Believe – yes! – continue to believe in God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – he alone truly loves you in the way you yearn to be loved, he alone can satisfy you, can bring stability to your lives. Only Christ is the way of Life.

God alone could grant Joseph the strength to trust the Angel. God alone will give you, dear married couples, the strength to raise your family as he wants. Ask it of him! God loves to be asked for what he wishes to give. Ask him for the grace of a true and ever more faithful love patterned after his own. As the Psalm magnificently puts it: his “love is established for ever, his loyalty will stand as long as the heavens” (Ps 88:3).

Just as on other continents, the family today – in your country and across Africa – is experiencing a difficult time; but fidelity to God will help see it through. Certain values of the traditional life have been overturned. Relationships between different generations have evolved in a way that no longer favours the transmission of accumulated knowledge and inherited wisdom. Too often we witness a rural exodus not unlike that known in many other periods of human history. The quality of family ties is deeply affected by this. Uprooted and fragile members of the younger generation who often – sadly – are without gainful employment, seek to cure their pain by living in ephemeral and man-made paradises which we know will never guarantee the human being a deep, abiding happiness. Sometimes the African people too are constrained to flee from themselves and abandon everything that once made up their interior richness. Confronted with the phenomenon of rapid urbanization, they leave the land, physically and morally: not as Abraham had done in response to the Lord’s call, but as a kind of interior exile which alienates them from their very being, from their brothers and sisters, and from God himself.

Is this an irreversible, inevitable development? By no means! More than ever, we must “hope against all hope” (Rom 4:18). Here I wish to acknowledge with appreciation and gratitude the remarkable work done by countless associations that promote the life of faith and the practice of charity. May they be warmly thanked! May they find in the word of God renewed strength to carry out their projects for the integral development of the human person in Africa, especially in Cameroon!

The first priority will consist in restoring a sense of the acceptance of life as a gift from God. According to both Sacred Scripture and the wisest traditions of your continent, the arrival of a child is always a gift, a blessing from God. Today it is high time to place greater emphasis on this: every human being, every tiny human person, however weak, is created “in the image and likeness of God” (Gen 1:27). Every person must live! Death must not prevail over life! Death will never have the last word!

Sons and daughters of Africa, do not be afraid to believe, to hope, and to love; do not be afraid to say that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that we can be saved by him alone. Saint Paul is indeed an inspired author given to the Church by the Holy Spirit as a “teacher of nations” (1 Tim 2:7) when he tells us that Abraham, “hoping against hope, believed that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, ‘So shall your descendants be’” (Rom 4:18).

“Hoping against hope”: is this not a magnificent description of a Christian? Africa is called to hope through you and in you! With Jesus Christ, who trod the African soil, Africa can become the continent of hope! We are all members of the peoples that God gave to Abraham as his descendants. Each and every one of us was thought, willed and loved by God. Each and every one of us has a role to play in the plan of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If discouragement overwhelms you, think of the faith of Joseph; if anxiety has its grip on you, think of the hope of Joseph, that descendant of Abraham who hoped against hope; if exasperation or hatred seizes you, think of the love of Joseph, who was the first man to set eyes on the human face of God in the person of the Infant conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Let us praise and thank Christ for having drawn so close to us, and for giving us Joseph as an example and model of love for him.

Dear brothers and sisters, I want to say to you once more from the bottom of my heart: like Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary into your home, that is to say do not be afraid to love the Church. Mary, Mother of the Church, will teach you to follow your pastors, to love your bishops, your priests, your deacons and your catechists; to heed what they teach you and to pray for their intentions. Husbands, look upon the love of Joseph for Mary and Jesus; those preparing for marriage, treat your future spouse as Joseph did; those of you who have given yourselves to God in celibacy, reflect upon the teaching of the Church, our Mother: “Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes and confirms it. Marriage and virginity are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the Covenant of God with his people” (Redemptoris Custos, 20).

Once more, I wish to extend a particular word of encouragement to fathers so that they may take Saint Joseph as their model. He who kept watch over the Son of Man is able to teach them the deepest meaning of their own fatherhood. In the same way, each father receives his children from God, and they are created in God’s own image and likeness. Saint Joseph was the spouse of Mary. In the same way, each father sees himself entrusted with the mystery of womanhood through his own wife. Dear fathers, like Saint Joseph, respect and love your spouse; and by your love and your wise presence, lead your children to God where they must be (cf. Lk 2:49).

Finally, to all the young people present, I offer words of friendship and encouragement: as you face the challenges of life, take courage! Your life is priceless in the eyes of God! Let Christ take hold of you, agree to pledge your love to him, and – why not? – maybe even do so in the priesthood or in the consecrated life! This is the supreme service. To the children who no longer have a father, or who live abandoned in the poverty of the streets, to those forcibly separated from their parents, to the maltreated and abused, to those constrained to join paramilitary forces that are terrorizing some countries, I would like to say: God loves you, he has not forgotten you, and Saint Joseph protects you! Invoke him with confidence.

May God bless you and watch over you! May he give you the grace to keep advancing towards him with fidelity! May he give stability to your lives so that you may reap the fruits he awaits from you! May he make you witnesses of his love here in Cameroon and to the ends of the earth! I fervently beg him to give you a taste of the joy of belonging to him, now and for ever. Amen."

Archbishop Vincent Nichols

In a leader The Times helpfully welcomes the appointment of Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Birmingham as the next head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales in place of the retiring Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.

"[T]he Pope has chosen a man who is eloquent and widely respected. But he has also picked a man who, his many admirers hope, will not shrink from the challenge of asserting Catholicism’s place in national public life...

And all the signs are that Archbishop Nichols will not be shy about making his Church’s case passionately on such issues as abortion, contraception, faith schools and Catholic adoption agencies.

Yet those Catholics will welcome the arrival next month of a new Archbishop of Westminster, the 11th since the restoration of the hierarchy, who will stake his claim to speak unashamedly for Christian values.

At a time when matters of faith are shaping the world in dramatic ways there are encouraging grounds to believe that Archbishop Nichols will act as a theologically unifying figure in the Catholic Church — conservative but not reactionary — offering a fluent voice in the national debate on those issues where the Catholic Church occasionally feels itself caught in the hinge of secular society."

Convents and Monasteries in Victorian Britain

In the 1850s, there was considerable anti-Catholic sentiment in the United Kingdom.

The focus of this sentiment was on three issues which were the subject of intense political debate:

1. the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales by Pope Pius IX in 1850 (the so called "Papal Aggression" affair)

2. the state funding for St. Patrick’s Catholic seminary in Maynooth, Ireland, and

3. the demand for convent inspection and regulation

For a brief history of the issues see Frank Wallis: Anti-Catholicism in Mid-Victorian Britain- Theory and Discipline (The Journal of Religion and Society ,Volume 7, 2005)

The attempt to regulate and (suppress ?) convents and monasteries in Victorian Britain is long forgotten. But it probably was the most serious attempt to undermine the Church in this time. If it had succeeded the history of the modern Catholic Church in Britain would have been very different.

Grievances against convents (as noted in petitions and parliamentary debates) included references to defenceless women at the mercy of clever priests, separation from family control, “unnatural” vows and lifestyle (i.e., not motherhood and domesticity), and loss of property (or territory) to the Roman Catholic Church authorities. The convent issue actually had little to do with theology, canon law, or loyalty to the Queen or the State.

The Papal Aggression Affair and the Maynooth Grant issues were resolved and over and done with in a few years. However the demands for convent inspection and regulation continued for decades.

Two bills were introduced and were only narrowly defeated.

The Religious Houses Bill 1851 would have allowed Justices of the Peace to make inquiries after any woman suspected of being held against her will in a convent.

The Recovery of Personal Liberty Bill 1853 would have compelled the Home Secretary to send JPs and state inspectors to any convent suspected of coercion or false imprisonment, and if necessary apply for a writ of habeas corpus.

Each year motions were brought in Parliament to similar effect. Some asked for a Select Committee to be appointed to investigate convents.

Naturally such offensive allegations caused considerable resentment on the part of the religious as well as the general Catholic population at the time

In a letter to the editor of the Catholic Standard, Lady Teresa Arundell wrote in 1852:

" To Catholic ladies, who, like myself, have sisters and relatives in convents, it is, indeed, humiliating and most painful, that, in England, hitherto considered the land of liberty, we should be forced to exert our influence to save those loved ones form the grossest insults, the most unmanly attempt now being made to deprive them of a security which even the meanest women slaves have insured to them. Can it be possible that, to the members of the House of Commons, heroic virtue is so hateful, that no insult is too great to offer those who dedicated themselves to its constant practice? Is Divine charity so distasteful to English Protestants, that ladies, by devoting their lives to its various duties, should become objects so contemptible that they are to be deprived, by law, of the liberty granted to the meanest of their sex, even to the most abandoned? Oh! that such a reproach on Englishmen should go forth to the world! Hatred of Catholicity is a poor plea for so cowardly, so wanton an insult to ladies."

Matters rumbled on and came to the boil again in the late 1860s.

It was The Great Convent Case of February 1869 which set the subject alight again:

Saurin v. Star & Kenedy, was tried before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn in the Court of Queen's Bench in London.

Susan Mary Saurin (formerly a member of the Sisters of Mercy) had been transferred from a convent in Ireland to Hull. She alleged that prior to being asked to leave the order in Hull, she had been mistreated, assaulted and imprisoned by the other sisters under the direction of the Mother Superior, Mary Ann Star. She sought damages and the return of her dowry of £ 300. The total damages sought was £ 5000. She won her action but was only awarded £ 500 in total (still a very large sum in those days).

The trial occupied many days and was extensively reported in all the media. Naturally it aroused a very great deal of interest. Tabloid journalism is not a recent phenomenon.

A full Report of the case is in The great convent case; Saurin v. Star & Kenedy, tried before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn in the court of Queen's Bench, February 1869 : containing the speeches of counsel on both sides, and the evidence of the various witnesses (1869)

The case was in the tradition of the penny press of the early nineteenth-century scandal sheets, the enormously popular 'Awful Disclosures', alleged and real ex-nuns of the likes of Maria Monk (1836), Rebecca Reed (1835), Edith O'Gorman (1886), and Josephine Bunkley (1855), and the 'plight' of women incarcerated in convents, and were appropriated by the anti-Catholic crusade

In March/April 1870, a Motion in the House of Commons to establish a Select Committee to enquire into convents as well as monastic institutions was passed, despite the strenuous efforts of the Government under Prime Minister Gladstone to defeat it.

(Gladstone, a devout Anglican testified to the need for conventual institutions for women. In 1840, he said:

"It has long been a matter of regret to many that the Church of England possesses no institution similar to that of the Sisters of Mercy. For many years the internal conditions of our great towns, and the intensity of accumulated misery, side by side with our luxury of comfor or of wealth have weighed heavily upon the minds of those who are in any way acquainted with the state of the poor."

William Ewart Gladstone: Sisters of Mercy- Circular Letter c.1848 quoted in Thomas J Williams, "Priscilla Lydia Sellon: The Restorer after Three Centuries of the Religious Life in the English Church (London SPCK 1865, pages 287-9 )

Indeed with others he had helped found an Anglican sisterhood of nuns at All Saints, the beginnings of an Anglican revival in convent life.

The Act of 1536 which granted Henry VIII the power to suppress monasteries and nunneries also granted him another power, one that is little recognized in religious history texts. It made provision for the King to re-found as well as suppress Religious Communities. Henry VIII granted royal license after the Act was passed to no fewer then forty-seven religious houses for both men and women, reestablishing them “in perpetuity.”)

The speeches in the House of Commons in favour of the Motions give a good taste of the level of the sheer passion against the idea of women religious in convents.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that roughly at the same time there occurred the First Vatican Council (1869-70) and the beginnings of Bismarck`s Kulturkampf in Germany. In Italy, the Italian Government published its proposals to suppress all monasteries within its jurisdiction in the 1860s.

Many Victorians perceived convents to be expanding, and as mounting threats to Protestantism.

Statistics of questionable accuracy appeared in many places, demonstrating the prominence of convents. In 1874, Fraser’s Magazine reported that there was an “astonishing” number of convent schools in the United Kingdom—238 to be precise.This would indicate that there were at least as many convents, and most likely many more which did not have schools associated with them.

One historian writes that the number of convents in England rose from sixteen in 1841 to 187 in 1865, a huge increase in a very short period of time.

See: Hansard HC Deb 29 March 1870 vol 200 cc872-908 and Hansard HC Deb 08 April 1870 vol 200 cc1588-98

Fortunately the Select Committee exonerated the convents and the monasteries in its Report, needless to say.

It looked into the position not only in England and Wales but also in Scotland.

It gave them a clean bill of health. This was looked on with relief not only by Catholics but also Anglicans, who inspired by Tractarianism, had begun to re-establish monasteries and convents.

From 1850 to 1905, the number of convents and monasteries in England and Wales grew from 52 to 1057.

In 1905, there were 592 in Ireland and 62 in Scotland.

The question was essentially resolved by the Select Committee although Irish Unionists continued to raise the issue of another Select Committee being appointed over the years.especially in the years after 1906, when many French monasteries relocated to Britain in the aftermath of the dissolution of the monasteries in France in that year.

From the coal face

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, a member of the House of Lords, and Professor of Palliative Medicine at Cardiff University has penned an important contribution to the "right to assisted suicide" debate presently bubbling away in the United Kingdom.

She writes as a doctor at the "coal face": her article in The Times is firmly grounded in practice and reality.


"Assisted suicide is fine in a perfect world. We don't live (or die) in one

A doctor's job is to treat the sick and relieve pain. That cannot be squared with helping the terminally ill to end their lives

When I was a junior doctor, patients who were dying were often abandoned in side wards, without effective pain and symptom control; terrible deaths were commonplace. In those days euthanasia seemed a temptingly humane solution.

That is not the situation today.

Palliative medicine has come of age; and the modern hospice movement has grown from the foundations laid by the late Dame Cicely Saunders, who pioneered the treatment of “total pain” - of mind and soul as well as body. I have been privileged to play a part in this revolution.

I have learnt - from patients, their families and colleagues - that care of the dying is far more than diagnosing and treating the physical aspects of terminal illness. That is an important part of the task, and advances in palliative medicine have revolutionised the science of pain and symptom control.

Care is also about addressing the wider suffering of incurably ill patients - their anguish at losing personal control of their lives, their failing strength, loss of self-worth and feelings of dependence on others. That is what the discipline of palliative care is about - bringing patient-centred care to the most vulnerable.

Experience of treating many patients over 30 years has convinced me that doctors must accept death as a natural end to life and avoid inappropriate interventions, but that legalising euthanasia, whether indirectly, in the form of assisted suicide, or directly, via lethal injection, is a dangerous step too far."

The Creation of Light

George Richmond 1809-1896
The Creation of Light 1826
Tempera, gold and silver on mahogany
support: 480 x 417 mm
The Tate, London

This painting was submitted to the Royal Academy exhibition of 1826 but was rejected

At that time, Michelangelo notwithstanding, you could not depict the Supreme Being.

Richmond was greatly influenced by William Blake.He first met Blake, at Linnell's house, in 1825. Richmond later said that conversing with Blake was like 'talking to the Prophet Isaiah'

In using tempera, Richmond was influenced by the work of Cennino d'Andrea Cennini (c. 1370 – c. 1440), and in particular Il libro dell'arte, often translated as The Craftsman's Handbook. Written in the early 15th century, the book is a "how to" on Renaissance art. It was recommended to Richmond by Blake when Richmond asked for advice on how to handle tempera.

Richmond was one of "The Ancients": a group of disciples of William Blake that formed around him in London in the last years before his death in 1827.

The implication of the name was that as the Industrial Revolution burgeoned they were looking back to a better age. Their leader was Samuel Palmer and the other chief figures were Edward Calvert and Richmond.

For a few years between 1826 and 1834 they gathered in the Kent village of Shoreham where Palmer owned a house. Their work expressed a mystical vision of nature, in Palmer's case deeply Christian.

The Second World War

After the Munich Agreement on 30th September 1938, Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940, was feted as a man of peace. A man who had saved Europe from a Second World War.

However during the winter of 1938-39, Chamberlain's attitude to Germany noticeably hardened. In part this was due to the violent anti-British propaganda campaign Hitler launched in November 1938, and in part due to information supplied by anti-Nazis such as Carl Friedrich Goerdeler that German armament priorities were being shifted towards preparing for a war with Britain

In particular, Chamberlain was concerned with information that Hitler regarded the Munich Agreement as a personal defeat, together with hints from Berlin in December 1938 that the Germans were planning to renounce the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, regarded in London as the "barometer" of Anglo-German relations in the near-future

He determined on a visit to Mussolini in Rome in early January 1939. He wanted a "heart to heart" with Mussolini. to inspire confidence in British friendship, to help detach Mussolini and Italy from Hitler and Germany, to ask Mussolini to encourage Hitler away from war and further expansion.

Chamberlain thought that the visit was reasonably successful. However it was an unrealistic assessment and the visit certainly did not advance his aims of peace.

While in Rome, he and the Foreign Secretary visited Pope Pius XI on 13th January 1939.

The visit was a private one. There was no official communique leading many outside observers to speculate about what was discussed.

At the time, TIME Magazine wrongly reported that the Pope pressed on the Prime Minister documents dealing with the destruction of Catholic lives and property in Loyalist Spain, and declared that, "as a means of restoring Christianity" to Spain, the Holy See put its hopes in a Franco victory.

According to Owen Chadwick, Britain and the Vatican [Cambridge University Press, pbk edition, 1988, page 19,] by the end of 1938, the British Foreign Office saw the Pope as one of the world leaders in the fight against Nazism and Fascism. However, prior to that time, the Foreign Office held the view that the Pope was a broken reed, useless for any practical purpose of international morality.

However Pope Pius XI had been ailing for a while, and , on November 25, 1938, he suffered two heart attacks within several hours. In February 1939, the situation of the pontiff visibly degenerated. Pius had major pain and difficulties walking. Pope Pius XI died at 5:31 a.m. of a third heart attack on February 10, 1939, aged 81.

Below are copies of the documents in The National Archives with the official reports of the visit by the British representative to the Vatican, Sir Francis D'Arcy Godolphin Osborne (16 September 1884 – 20 March 1964), later the 12th Duke of Leeds who was at present at the meetings.

One other person mentioned in the official papers relating to the visit to Pius XI was Monsignor William Godfrey (25 September 1889—22 January 1963), rector of the English College. At the College, the strict priest was known to his students as "Uncle Bill". On 21 November 1938, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Cius and the first Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain, Gibraltar and Malta. Godfrey, who was the first papal representative to England since the Reformation. He was chargé d'affaires of the Holy See to Poland in 1943, and was made Archbishop of Liverpool on 10 November 1953.

In 1956, Pope Pius XII named him as Archbishop of Westminster and he was made a cardinal by Pope John XXIII in 1958.

William Theodore Heard (24 February 1884 - 16 September 1973) was then Auditor of the Tribunal of the Holy Roman Rota. In 1958 he was appointed Dean of the Holy Roman Rota (i.e. the equivalent of Chief Justice) and was elevated to Cardinal one year later when he was appointed Cardinal Deacon of the titular church S. Teodoro. He was born in Edinburgh. The British press used to refer to him as "the first Scottish Cardinal since the Reformation".

Sir Darcy was British representative at the Vatican during the Second World War.

He was one of the group, which he supported with his own money, led by Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty who helped conceal some 4000 escapees, both Allied soldiers and Jews, from the Nazis; 3925 survived the war. Their story was portrayed in the 1983 film 'The Scarlet & The Black', starring Gregory Peck.

He also played a key part in a plot in 1940, which involved the Pope (Pius XII) and certain German generals, to overthrow Hitler (See Owen Chadwick, 'Britain and the Vatican During the Second World War', 1988, Cambridge Paperback Library, p. 86 et seq.).

"‘The key figures in the German conspiracy and the chain of command with the Vatican were Muller who worked for German intelligence and was tasked by the leader of the conspirators, Colonel Oster, to strengthen the bonds between the Vatican and the German opposition. At the time, the old leader of the German Centre Party, Monsignor Kaas, lived in Rome.’

‘The German conspirators at first saw the Vatican as a good place to meet allied representatives. It was only later they thought of bringing in the Vatican in order to get some sort of guarantee if they overthrew Hitler. They did not want a return to a Versailles type treaty. Muller, through Kaas, met with the Pope’s Private Secretary, Fr. Leiber in November 1939. Leiber put the plan to the Pope.’

‘The Pope was asked to tell Osborne, that the German opposition to Hitler existed in strength.He was asked to elicit honourable peace terms from London, to be negotiated with a new and upright German Government after the overthrow of Hitler; and the Pope was asked toguarantee certain articles of the peace terms beforehand, so as to make the overthrow of Hitler an easier work for the conspirators’.

Chadwick writes ‘the Pope was being invited to engage in a conspiracy to overthrow a tyrant, and incidentally to put himself and his aides into those dire risks which attend conspirators’.

On 6 November 1939, Leiber told Muller that the Pope had agreed to put the terms to Osborne. It was helped by the fact that from his time as Nuncio in Berlin, Pius XII knew personally General Beck one of the leaders of the conspiracy. The chain of command was thus: General Beck to Colonel Oster, Oster to Josef Muller, Muller to Leiber, Leiber to the Pope, the Pope to Osborne, Osborne to Halifax, Halifax to Chamberlain. Osborne also had a link which did not pass via the Pope, but through Kaas to Muller. Osborne’s privileged and unique role did not stop there, ‘on 12 January 1940, the Pope told him that he had information from some German Generals. The Pope knew who they were, but withheld the details. Their message was ‘a violent offensive was planned in the west, in the month of February, and using Holland as a route. The offensive need never happen. If the German generals could be assured of an honourable peace which would not be Wilsonian in nature, they would overthrow Hitler and negotiate a reasonable settlement in Eastern Europe – which would restore Poland and Czecho-Slovakia, but keep the union with Austria.

Osborne asked the Pope if he could guarantee the good faith of the generals and he said he could not. Osborne asked him if he could guarantee that the generals could carry out what they undertook and he said he could not. Osborne writes ‘never in all history had a Pope engaged so delicately in a conspiracy to overthrow a tyrant by force’.

The Pope met Osborne again on 7 February 1940. The Pope told Osborne of Hitler’s plan to invade Belgium and to be in the Louvre by the summer and to find a more worthy site for the Venus de Milo. They then talked of the planned coup in Germany. There was more detail about the exact nature of the proposed German polity, it would eventually be a democratic state, but that might have to wait until a possible civil war had come to an end. The German generals wanted Britain to basically guarantee Munich i.e. that Austria would be in the German Federation.

Osborne sent the material to Halifax. Chamberlain said they needed more detail and to know who the conspirators were. They would then consider it as long as they could bring in the French. On 17 February, Halifax wrote to Osborne asking him to keep open the line of communication. The Pope should be told that the British were ready to discuss; that the French must be brought in; that they must receive definite proposals. Austria should be given the free choice whether or not it went into the Federation. The British were taking the plan seriously.

The British conditions – known to historians as the X-report, were laid before commanding generals Halder and Brauschitsch in the spring of 1940. It is believed that the Gestapo discovered the X-report among the papers which they found in the safe when they raided the intelligence services office at Zossen on 22 September 1944.10 On 27 March when Kaas met Osborne, he told him that the conspirators had laid aside their plans for the time being.

According to Chadwick, the British lost a chance.

The British War Cabinet Papers at the time on the issue are below:

An end to "Catholic discrimination"

This morning we opened our newspapers to headlines declaring "Gordon Brown pledges to end 'discrimination' in Royal succession"


The discrimination: the "discrimination" against women and those who marry Roman Catholics in the Royal line of succession

Why the new Jerusalem ?

Well, a Liberal Democrat was promoting a private members Bill to do the same thing. It was to be heard today. It has been blocked by the Government and the Government had to offer a sop to its supporters who happen to be Catholic. Especially to Labour tribalists in the West of Scotland and around Liverpool.

It took the edge off some other news the Government wanted to take off the news agenda. Such as how the Prime Minister was overruled in economic policy by The Governor of the Bank of England and the Treasury. The criticism of the Prime Minister`s economic policies by the European Union and others which now threatens "the Grand New Economic Agreement" long trumpeted by the Prime Minister for the forthcoming G20 meeting in London ?

It also was designed to take some attention off the horrible and disgusting announcement that abortion clinics will soon be able to advertise their "services" on television in the United Kingdom (which is a policy approved of and encouraged by this Government) [Does the Prime Minister really think that any Catholic in the United Kingdom is going to forget that ?]

Of course such discrimination against Catholics and women is unjust.

But does the Government not have more to do with its time ?

In any event if you read the small print:

1. the discrimination to be tackled is simply about the religious affiliation of the spouse of the Monarch and those in line to the Royal Succession, and not the affiliation of those who are either the Monarch or in the line of succession. There are no proposals about altering the bar to such people being Catholic.

2. the Government intends to legislate not until after the next election, when presumably it will not be in power.

Such blatant news management and spin is an insult to the intelligence of all Catholics in the United Kingdom.

The Annunciation

Domenikos Theotokopoulos [El Greco]
(b. 1541, Candia, d. 1614, Toledo)
The Annunciation
c. 1570
Tempera on panel, 26,7 x 20 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

This version of the Annunciation was painted by El Greco when he was in Venice, before he went to Spain.

He spent about three years there before moving to Rome

In Venice he was influenced by the works of Titian and his successor, Tintoretto

Later on, El Greco produced a more mystical version of the same subject: more of a meditation on the Incarnation than a simple narrative based on St Luke`s Gospel.

See also:An Epiphany on the Annunciation

Relic of St Benedict found in The British Museum

Portable altar Medieval, around AD 1200 [Front and reverse]
From Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany
With relics of Christian saints
The British Museum, London

Clerical Whispers has an amazing story that curators at London's British Museum have discovered the relics of 39 saints, including St Benedict, packed in bundles of cloth inside a 12th century portable German altar.

The most precious was the relic of St Benedict, father of the western monastic tradition. The relic was wrapped in cloth which was itself an extraordinary object, a piece of silk from 8th- or 9th-century Byzantium.

The relics were only found when the 12th-century German portable altar was opened for the first time since it came into the British Museum collection in 1902.

One hopes that the British Museum will give the relics to the Archdiocese on permanent loan so that they can be given a suitable and fitting home in Westminster Cathedral.However no doubt this would cause major problems for the Trustees with demands from others requesting the return of similar objects in the possession of the Museum.

One also hopes that there are not similar religious relics lying aroung the huge storerooms of the British Museum.


The entry in the net catalogue of The Museum states:

"The altar is made from a combination of metalwork, ivory carving and miniature painting that was highly favoured by artists of Lower Saxony in the eleventh century. The altar-stone, once thought to be porphyry, is more likely to be a variety of Purbeck marble. It is mounted in gilt copper which is engraved with the four symbols of the Evangelists and Saints Peter, Andrew, Stephen and Lawrence. Above the stone there is an ivory of the Crucifixion and below it the Virgin and Child enthroned with two bishop saints. To either side is placed a painted miniature on vellum under crystal, of Saints Godehard (right) and Bernard (left), both bishops of Hildesheim.

Beneath the ivory of the Virgin and Child is an inscription THIDERICVS. ABBAS. III. DEDIT, which reveals the identity of the patron as Theodoric, the third abbot of his name. This would seem to signify Abbot Theodoric who was abbot at Godehardiklosters, Hildesheim, between 1181 and 1204.

The reverse of the altar is inscribed with the names of forty saints in whose honour it was dedicated. In a cavity beneath the stone slab are relics of these saints, wrapped in textiles and labelled. Analysis has shown that the oldest textiles are likely to date from the ninth or tenth century, whereas the most recent may date from as late as the nineteenth. The relics themselves have been examined and consist mainly of bone but with hair (labelled as coming from St John the Evangelist) and semi-precious stones (associated with St Christopher)."

Pietà

John Kane (1860-1934)
Pietà 1933
Oil on canvas
H: 21 1/2 x W: 24 inches (H: 55 x W: 61 cm)
The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

John Kane (1860-1934) was born in West Calder, Scotland but only found recognition as an artist when he went to live in the United States.

He worked as a manual labourer all his life.

He was a devout Catholic. He was born to Irish parents. His father died when he was 10. His family emigrated to the United States when he was still young.

He was a self taught artist. Recognition came late: in 1927, his canvas Scene from the Scottish Highlands was admitted to the Carnegie International exhibition.

In 1897 he married at St. Mary's Catholic Church in downtown Pittsburgh

He died due to tuberculosis. But in the last few years he enjoyed some degree of fame. He exhibited at successive Internationals, as well as at Harvard, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Museum of Modern Art.

He is buried in Pittsburgh's Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery

Pietà is based on the famous Avignon Pietà (c. 1455, Louvre, Paris),

The Spirit of Malthus is alive and well

In the United Kingdom, there seems to be a number of influential people who do not like life.


In an article entitled UK population must fall to 30m, The Times reports that Jonathon Porritt, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society.

Porritt’s call will come at this week’s annual conference of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), of which he is patron.

The trust will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m if the country wants to feed itself sustainably.

Porritt said: “Population growth, plus economic growth, is putting the world under terrible pressure.

“Each person in Britain has far more impact on the environment than those in developing countries so cutting our population is one way to reduce that impact.”

Population growth is one of the most politically sensitive environmental problems. The issues it raises, including religion, culture and immigration policy, have proved too toxic for most green groups.

However, Porritt is winning scientific backing. Professor Chris Rapley, director of the Science Museum, will use the OPT conference, to be held at the Royal Statistical Society, to warn that population growth could help derail attempts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Rapley, who formerly ran the British Antarctic Survey, said humanity was emitting the equivalent of 50 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.

“We have to cut this by 80%, and population growth is going to make that much harder,” he said.

Such views on population have split the green movement. George Monbiot, a prominent writer on green issues, has criticised population campaigners, arguing that “relentless” economic growth is a greater threat.

Many experts believe that, since Europeans and Americans have such a lopsided impact on the environment, the world would benefit more from reducing their populations than by making cuts in developing countries.

This is part of the thinking behind the OPT’s call for Britain to cut population to 30m — roughly what it was in late Victorian times.

Britain’s population is expected to grow from 61m now to 71m by 2031. Some politicians support a reduction.

Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, said: “You can’t have sustainability with an increase in population.”

The Tory leader, David Cameron, has also suggested Britain needs a “coherent strategy” on population growth.

Despite these comments, however, government and Conservative spokesmen this weekend both distanced themselves from any population policy. ”

The Pope's message is not the problem

William Rees-Mogg is a former distinguished editor of The Times.

In today`s Times, he discussed the recent problems affecting the "Pope`s image".

He says that the image of Benedict XVI as "ultra-conservative" is patently wrong. The problem is the Vatican "and its PR machine".

"On his visit, the Pope created an avoidable news story by defending the Church's ban on condoms, even as part of the campaign against Aids. The Pope argues that Aids is spread by promiscuity, and that it is essential to attack the root evil of promiscuity, in line with two millennia of Christian teaching, rather than to encourage condoms as a protection against its consequences.

This has been widely criticised as an ultra-conservative doctrine but it can be supported by the difference in rates of Aids infection in different cultures. Some cultures, and some religions, allow much greater sexual liberty, with its risks. If the Pope were to change the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, that might weaken the cultural taboo against promiscuity. It is not a decision he could take lightly - nor is it obvious that it would lower the number of victims of Aids.

It all looks simple: condoms good, Pope reactionary. It is not simple at all. All societies impose some code of sexual conduct, usually formed around religious beliefs. Cultures that lack concepts of sexual discipline are not usually good societies in which to live. Certainly they are not societies with good control over sexually transmitted diseases. The case for liberalism needs to be scrutinised as thoughtfully as the conservative case.

However, apart from the merits of the argument over sexual discipline, there is a problem of the public perception of the Pope's image. He is not an ultra-conservative spoiling for a fight. He is not a Pius IX, becoming increasingly defensive in his old age, still less a Pius X, who persecuted some of the finest theological intellects of the early 20th century for so-called modernism, which would now be regarded as unobjectionable and orthodox.

Catholics have all become relatively modernist since Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council. Of course, the Catholic Church has to interact with the modern world. The Pope is himself an intellectual, curious about science and ideas. He is open to argument and debate. My own impression is that he sees the inevitability of the Church adjusting to modern ideas, but wants to make minor revisions to the post-Vatican II settlement, intended to give somewhat greater freedom to what one might call Tridentine Catholics. His move towards greater freedom to use the Tridentine Mass is an example. The post-Vatican II settlement made it very difficult to get permission to use the form of the Mass adopted by the Council of Trent in the 16th century. Conservative Catholics have a strong attachment to the Latin liturgy and some strongly prefer the Tridentine form of that liturgy.

Pope Benedict sympathises with this view. He is surely right, from a liberal, as well as a conservative, standpoint. For 400 years, the Tridentine rite was the universal rite of the Church. It was excessively authoritarian of small committees in the Vatican to try to abolish it. The Pope wants to restore the Church's connection to its own historic past; that does not mean that he wants to set the clock back.

Yet something has gone wrong. In recent weeks, stories from Rome have painted a picture not of the moderately conservative Pope that is the reality, but of a papal reactionary who does not exist. Several minor stories, such as the withdrawal of the excommunication of a cranky pseudo-bishop who happens to have denied the Holocaust, have been overinterpreted in the press.

I sympathise with the moderate extension of freedom that the Pope wishes to give the conservatives. Excommunication has more often done harm than good. Elizabeth I was excommunicated, and that divided Christianity in Britain for 400 years. I cannot imagine many circumstances in which one should criticise a Pope for restoring the communion. Of course Holocaust denial - of which the Pope seems to have been unaware - is stupid and odious, but I would hesitate to criticise him for allowing freedom of speech even to the deluded.

Some of these arguments concern genuine issues of doctrine or conscience, but much of the trouble arises from failure to modernise the media responses of the Vatican. The media have moved into a 24-hour, seven-day global news system. The Vatican has not.

It is no longer possible to run a national government as a small-scale news operation. The Roman Catholic Church is a worldwide structure with more than a billion members. This Pope succeeded John Paul II who was a genius at communication. He does not have the same charisma. He should professionalise the Vatican's news operation to match Sky, CNN, the BBC or al-Jazeera."

Giuseppe and Francesco Bianchi

Medal struck 1869
To commemorate the First Ecumenical Council in Rome
The work of Giuseppe and Francesco Bianchi
74g: 191.25

Giuseppe Bianchi (1808-1877) and his son, Francesco Bianchi (1842- 1918) were both Papal engravers

Giuseppe Bianchi was the chief Papal engraver at the Pontifical Mint from 1852

His son, Francesco was a Professor at the Accademia di S. Luca and chief engraver for the Vatican from 1876 onwards