De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Apologies if I am a few days late, but I just wanted to add my congratulations to the chorus of well wishers offering their felicitations to Archbishop Vincent Nichols on his nomination to the sacred council of Cardinals . What an extreme honour and privilege this must be for him, and what an incredible and experience. The weight of history must really press down on you when you realise you are the next in line for this important role. A Cardinal is not a type of holy orders (these are deacon, priest and bishop) but rather his is an honorific title which denotes the most senior clergymen (priests) in the Church below the Pope. Although historically they were the local clergy of Rome, today they are Bishops of important ‘ sees ’ (dioceses) from throughout the world, or heads of departments of the Vatican, or some priests or bishops whom the Pope personally wishes to honour. The title of Cardinal is given by the Pope as a personal decision. The word ‘cardinal’ comes from the La...

What was that you say? The Bishops standing up for Catholic teaching? Shock! Horror! Call the Police! The Fire Brigade! The Vatican even! But no, you heard me right. There is this brilliant bit in the Telegraph yesterday about Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell who has pointed out to the Prime Minister the obvious fact that he is clearly out of his depth. Certainly it is clear that David Cameron will not be able to exempt the Churches from a duty to offer marriages to homosexual couples, a specialist in religious discrimination law has said. Neil Addison, a barrister and the director of the Warrington-based Thomas More Legal Centre, said that the Prime Minister’s assurances to the Church that they would not be compelled to perform religious marriage for gay couples are worthless: see here . I was so happy to see the Bishop of Motherwell speaking out on this issue, especially as it seems what he has said needed so badly to be said. The he was joined by the brilliant Bishop of...