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Cardinal Vincent Nichols reflects on the Consistory


image Carl Gross

image Carl Gross

At a press conference at the English College in Rome yesterday, Cardinal Vincent Nichols reflected on the Consistory, and his new role. In his opening words he said there had been a "wonderful reception" there the night before" and the Rector had reminded him that they've been welcoming pilgrims to this building for 650 years. "They gave us a terrific party." Going on to reflect on the last few days Cardinal Nichols said:

"The Consistory and the Mass with Pope Francis yesterday were for me first of all a very vivid reminder of the experience of the universality of the Church. I think everybody has said that - Pope Francis has said so himself .. but to be among 18 new Cardinals from 15 different countries and only four of the Europeans, begins to make it very clear where the strength of Catholicism lies and how important it is that the College of Cardinals reflects that diversity and universality of the Church. So now I sit next to a Cardinal from Managua and he and I will slowly get to know each other .. it reminds me over and over again to think of the Church purely from the point of view of Europe is not to see the whole picture.

"The second thing that struck me very forceful over these last few days is the depth and richness of friendships that the Church helps to nurture in people. This college was crowded with over 200 - 250 people yesterday - I suppose some contact with me was a common factor - but here and in the Courtesy Visits (in the Pope Paul VI Hall) on Saturday what fascinated me was to see the way in which people were speaking to each other - they were catching up, making friendships, making contacts with each other. There was just such a depth of delight and warmth about this whole weekend which strikes me - sharing faith creates friendship plus plus. There's human friendship but when its lived and experienced in this richness of the family of faith then it is really deepened.

"A single phrase I will take home with me is from homily of Pope Francis when he makes such emphasis on the experience of faith the content of faith - the business of walking with Jesus each day. He didn't come to teach us good manners he didn't come to give us an ideology he came simply to walk with us each day and will teach us each day the compassion the forgiveness, openness of heart, the patience that we need for the day.

"One other thing I will take back is a sense of pride in the choir of Westminster Cathedral which came and sang at the two pontifical events and young Colin who sang the Psalm in St Peters yesterday, the senior boys chorister. The richness of the tradition of English Church music."

Cardinal Nichols said the invitation goes back to the visit of Pope Benedict in 2010 when he was so taken by the church music from Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral that he invited both choirs then. The Westminster Abbey choir came to Rome about a year ago.

After the Mass on Sunday, Cardinal Nichols said the Choir went to Casa Santa Marta where Pope Francis came out and greeted every single one of them and they sang for him. "It was a wonderful moment. The quality of their voices just echoed round the buildings there. It was a very personal and intimate meeting and a gift."

Moving on to speak about his new role, Cardinal Nichols said a major priority is a concern for the poor. One of his first tasks will be to chair the second international conference on human trafficking which takes place in Rome on the 9th and 10th of April. He said: "This is a very important initiative to counter the scourge of trafficking around the world." The head of Interpol and representatives from at least 14 police forces around the world will be taking part, he said. The Catholic Church in England, particularly women's religious orders have been working closely with victims of human trafficking offering them support, safe refuges, help with re-integration or support if they wish to return to their home countries. In order to raise awareness there is now a Day of Prayer for Victims of Human Trafficking - and a patron saint of victims of human trafficking - St Josephine Bakhita who experienced slavery herself.

After Cardinal Nichols' introductory statement, he took a number of questions from the press.

On relations with the Church of England, he said: "I enjoy very much contact and cooperation with Archbishop Justin. He and I came to Rome together for his first meeting with Holy Father. We had lunch with Holy Father and talked for hour and a half. He and I are working step by step on real positive communications… Two months ago we had a joint meeting with all Anglican Bishops and the Roman Catholic Bishops on our common task of presenting the Gospel and helping our churches flourish. The fact that the House of Bishops took a further step towards voting fior women bishops does not make the path to structural unity any easier, but it does not impede our joint cooperation on many positive areas which are very important."

Asked whether Pope Francis is going to introduce doctrinal changes, he said: "I've been asked how I would define the emerging papacy of Pope Francis. I would not use the word reform - I would use the phrase 'radical renewal' he is the Pope of startling radical renewal in the Church .. radical because he goes right to the very heart of why the Church exists why it has life in it and what its mission is. He is insistent and you've seen it is his early writing before he became Pope, that our basic definition of ourselves is that we are missionary disciples…

"He's going to insist over and over again that's what come first - and only in that context.. can we begin to look at some of the troubled areas."

Asked about the discussions on family life, Cardinal Nichols said: "On the question of family we had those first two days of discussions before the Consistory, and what was very clear is that this is a two year period of reflection leading to the extraordinary Synod this October and then October 2015 which will be an ordinary Synod…"

He said that Cardinal Kaspar has spoken about those discussions. "What he gave was an 'overture', which looked at the key themes. "It struck me trying to absorb five key melodies - snippets of musical themes that later in the work are going to be expanded and explored."

Cardinal Nichol said the debate was characterised by a "keen awareness of the distress of many people" .. keen sense that many people feel failure - desire to start again. .. quite often people sense their not be being admitted is a punishment a sign of not being accepted in the Church. Whole need to explore more what part the Eucharist does play….

Secondly, he said there was a deep concern for truth - the insolubility of marriage - which he said he said led to a desire to thank people for their witness of fidelity in marriage. 'That is still the majority of marriages" .. it is a grace and very important to remember."

A third subject discussed at the Consistory was human freedom. Cardinal Nichols said there is a need to explore much more deeply the way in which in people in Europe in particular approach marriage. Its not enough for the insolubility of marriage to be an aspiration - but it must also be a commitment to the insolubility of marriage. There was a lot of discussion on how free people are today to give that commitment, he said.

Cardinal Nichols said there was also great concern about the pastoral care for divorced people. "Pope Francis spoke of pastoral care as 'intelligent, courageous, and full of love. ' … "A lot of work has to be done on the art of pastoral care… The titular Church I have been given is Church of St Alphonsus Liguori - a master of pastoral theology. I'll be looking to him a bit more so that the richness of the pastoral traditional of the can be explored."

He said parishes need to look at building up supportive intergenerational groups that are broader that the nuclear family. Finally, the Caridanl said, the Consistory discussions looked at the justice - and the need for church tribunals to be made more available.

Summing up the role of the Cardinals he repeated the words of Pope Francis who advised them that they were being 'called to serve to have broader horizons on a larger heart' - "that the world I'm going to try to enter into." Cardinal Nichols said his three priorities are to be attentive to the poor, attentive to the business world, encouraging them to make a positive contribution to society through their work, and to be more attentive to parishes.

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