Archbishop of Westminster

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The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the Metropolitan of the Province of Westminster and, as a matter of custom, is elected President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and therefore de facto spokesman of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Since the re-establishment of the hierarchy in 1850, each successive Archbishop of Westminster has been raised to the rank of cardinal. Although all the bishops of the restored diocesan episcopacy took new titles, like that of Westminster, they saw themselves in continuity with the pre-Reformation Church and post-Reformation Vicars Apostolic and Titular Bishops. Westminster, in particular, saw itself as the continuity of Canterbury, hence the similarity of the coat of arms of the two Sees, with Westminster believing it has more right to it since it features the pallium, a distinctly Catholic symbol of communion with the Holy See.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Current situation 3 Title of primate 4 List of Archbishops 5 See also 6 References

[edit] History

With the gradual abolition of the legal restrictions on the activities of Catholics in England and Wales in the early 19th century, Rome on its own ("not by Concordat with the English government nor conversations with the Anglican Church") decided to fill the partial vacuum, which Queen Elizabeth I had created, by restoring Catholic dioceses on a regular historical pattern and replacing existing titular bishops or Vicars Apostolic with diocesan ones. Thus Pope Pius IX issued the Bull Universalis Ecclesiae of 29 September 1850 by which thirteen new dioceses were created. Although these dioceses could not formally claim pre-Elizabethan territorial dioceses (owing to the Ecclesiastical Titles Act), they did claim validity and continuity with the pre-Elizabethan Church.^[2][3] Historian and descendant of recusants, Paul Johnson, claims that as early as 1718, only 30 years after the Glorious Revolution, Catholics could take heart when Parliament repealed the Schism Act, the Occasional Conformity Act and the Act for Quieting and Establishing Corporations, which allowed Dissenters to hold certain offices. Although these repeals at the time only benefited Dissenters, their rescission and abolition suggested reform was in the air and on Parliament's mind. Then in 1727, in the wake of the repeal of the annual Indemnity Acts, which relieved Dissenters of most of their "disabilities" (making it no longer possible, for example, to enforce by law the attendance of anyone at church on Sunday), Catholics, especially non-aristocratic Catholics, could slowly start to creep out into the open again, long before the Catholic Emancipation of 1832. As a result of the 1727 Act, Christianity in England (Anglican, Dissenter, Catholic, etc) also ceased to be a "compulsory society." Still, Catholics had to wait another ninety-five years before being given full civil and religious rights. Nevertheless, the gains of the Dissenters a century earlier were significant, not to be underestimated, and definitely played important role towards eliminating Catholic "disabilities" later.^[4]

The Ecclesiastical Titles Act had already been proposed by the British Parliament and was passed in 1851 as an anti-Catholic measure precisely to prevent any newly created Catholic dioceses from taking existing Anglican diocesan names, forbidding the wearing of (Anglican) clerical dress or setting bells in Catholic places of worship. It was repealed by Gladstone in 1871.

One of these newly restored dioceses was the Archdiocese of Westminster, the sole Metropolitan See at that time. However, under Pope Pius X, on 28 October 1911, two new Provinces of Liverpool and Birmingham were created, and Westminster retained as suffragan dioceses only Northampton, Nottingham, Portsmouth and Southwark. These increased when under Pope Benedict XV a Bull of 20 July 1917, fixed the seat of a new diocese corresponding to the County of Essex, detached now from Westminster, at Brentwood, making it a suffragan of Westminster.

During the pontificate of Pope Paul VI, on 28 May 1965, a new Province of Southwark was erected, with as its suffragans Portsmouth, detached from Westminster, Plymouth, detached from Birmingham, and a new diocese of Arundel and Brighton erected in the Counties of Sussex and Surrey with territory taken from the diocese of Southwark. Westminster retained as suffragan dioceses only Northampton, Nottingham and Brentwood. Subsequently these were joined by a new diocese of East Anglia, erected with territory from the Northampton diocese in the Counties of Cambridge, Norfolk and Suffolk by Paul VI on 13 March 1976.

The previous Catholic jurisdiction of the London area was headed by the Vicar Apostolic of the London District or Titular Bishop, appointed by the pope.

[edit] Current situation

The archdiocese presently covers an area of 3,634 km² of the London Boroughs north of the River Thames excluding Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest together with the districts of Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames and the County of Hertfordshire. The see is in the City of Westminster, the Archbishop's cathedra or seat is located at the Metropolitan Cathedral Church of the "Most Precious Holy Blood, Saint Mary, Saint Joseph and Saint Peter", usually referred to as Westminster Cathedral, which is set back from Victoria Street.

The Archbishop's residence is Archbishop's House, Ambrosden Avenue, London.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols was installed as the 11th Archbishop on May 21 2009.^[5]

[edit] Title of primate

Among the old European Catholic Sees (i.e., Paris, Vienna, Prague, Milan, Budapest, Lyons, Lisbon, Cologne, Munich, etc.), the Archbishop of Westminster is referred to as the only valid Primate of England and Wales. However, in the United Kingdom, this is not legally correct, since the title is formally claimed only by the archbishops of the established Church of England, and is applied to the Archbishop of York as "Primate of England", and the Archbishop of Canterbury, as "Primate of All England". In global Catholicism, however, the last time there was an erected Catholic Primate of England in the UK, accepted by the state, was prior to the Reformation.

[edit] List of Archbishops

(Any dates appearing in italics indicate de facto continuation of office. The start date of tenure below is the date of appointment or succession. Where known, the date of installation and ordination as bishop are listed in the notes together with the post held prior to appointment.) ^[6]

No.	Incumbent	Tenure		Notes
		From	Until
1	Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman	29 Sept. 1850	15 Feb. 1865	Vicar Apostolic of the London District 1849-50; elevated to cardinal 30 September 1850; died in office.[7]
2	Henry Edward Manning	16 May 1865	14 Jan. 1892	Widower; Ex Anglican Archdeacon; Priest of Westminster 1851-65; ordained 8 June 1865; elevated to cardinal 15 March 1875; died in office.[8]
3	Herbert Vaughan	8 April 1892	19 June 1903	Bishop of Salford 1872-92; elevated to cardinal 16 January 1893; died in office.[9]
4	Francis Alphonsus Bourne	11 Sept. 1903	1 Jan. 1935	Bishop of Southwark 1897-1903; elevated to cardinal 27 November 1911; died in office.[10]
5	Arthur Hinsley	1 April 1935	17 March 1943	Apostolic Delegate in Africa 1930-34, titular Archbishop of Sardes 1930-35; elevated to cardinal 13 December 1937; died in office.[11]
6	Bernard William Griffin	18 Dec. 1943	20 Aug. 1956	Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham 1938-43; elevated to cardinal 18 February 1946; died in office.[12]
7	William Godfrey	3 Dec. 1956	22 Jan. 1963	Archbishop of Liverpool 1953-56; elevated to cardinal 15 December 1958; died in office.[13]
8	John Carmel Heenan	2 Sept. 1963	7 Nov. 1975	Archbishop of Liverpool 1957-1963; elevated to cardinal 22 February 1965; died in office.[14]
9	George Basil Hume, O.S.B.	9 Feb. 1976	17 June 1999	Abbot of Saint Lawrence's Abbey, Ampleforth 1963-76; ordained 25 March 1976; elevated to cardinal 24 May 1976; died in office.[15]
10	Cormac Murphy-O'Connor	15 Feb. 2000	3 April 2009	Bishop of Arundel and Brighton 1977-2000; elevated to Cardinal 21 February 2001; resigned, Apostolic Administrator until 21 May 2009.[16]
11	Vincent Nichols	3 April 2009	present	Archbishop of Birmingham 2000-09; Installed at Westminster Cathedral 21 May 2009

[edit] See also

• Religion in the United Kingdom
• Catholic Church in Great Britain
• Lists of office-holders

[edit] References

v • d • e Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in England and Wales Province of Westminster Archbishop of Westminster  Bishop of Brentwood • Bishop of East Anglia • Bishop of Northampton • Bishop of Nottingham Province of Birmingham Archbishop of Birmingham  Bishop of Clifton • Bishop of Shrewsbury Province of Liverpool Archbishop of Liverpool  Bishop of Hallam • Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle • Bishop of Lancaster • Bishop of Leeds • Bishop of Middlesbrough • Bishop of Salford Province of Southwark Archbishop of Southwark  Bishop of Arundel and Brighton • Bishop of Plymouth • Bishop of Portsmouth Province of Cardiff Archbishop of Cardiff  Bishop of Menevia • Bishop of Wrexham Others Military Ordinariate Bishop of the Forces • Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians