Pope Benedict XVI will preach in Westminster Hall, where Catholic martyrs including Sir Thomas More were condemned to die, when he visits England next September, it has emerged.
He will make an address to MPs and peers from the spot where Sir Thomas was sentenced in 1535 for his opposing the adultery of King Henry VIII.
Details of the four-day state visit are being discussed in Rome between a delegation of Whitehall officials and their Vatican counterparts.
A Vatican delegation has also visited London in an attempt to finalise the plans.
It is understood, however, that the visit will begin on September 16 and that it will end after the Pope has personally presided over the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, possibly in Wembly stadium, on Sunday September 19.
The address in Westminster Hall will be one of two public speeches that the Pope will deliver during the trip. The other will be to academics at Oxford University.
Former Tory Minister Ann Widdecombe, a convert to Catholicism who will be standing down at the next General Election, said it was “marvellous” that the Pope will be able to address parliamentarian from such an historic venue.
She said: “He should remind Parliamentarians of their duty to guarantee freedom and democracy and that includes Christians.”
Westminster Hall was built in the 11th century and is the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster.
It is sacred to many Catholics because it was where many martyrs and saints were tried for High Treason during the Protestant Reformation... Read the whole article.
Showing posts with label Daily Telegraph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Telegraph. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Archbishop of Canterbury claims higher taxes would be good for society
Higher levels of tax would be good for society, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
by Martin Beckford
Dr Rowan Williams said that taxation should not be seen as a way of stifling business or redistributing wealth but helping to make the world a better place in which to live.
He called for new levies to be introduced on financial transactions and carbon emissions, and an end to the idea that unlimited economic growth is desirable.
The archbishop also claimed reality television gives us “alarming glimpses” of what the world would look like were everyone to be governed by self-interest.
Dr Williams, the most senior cleric in the Church of England and a self-confessed “hairy lefty”, has made a series of critical statements since last year’s banking crisis on the excesses of the financial sector and Labour’s attempt to spend its way out of recession.
In his latest comments, delivered to the TUC Economics Conference on Monday, he pointed out that the term “economics” derives from a Greek word meaning “housekeeping” and should be about “creating a habitat that we can actually live in”.
However he said that over the past few decades, the market has been treated as an “independent authority”, creating social disruption around the world and the “extraordinary phenomena” of debt trading... Read the whole article.
by Martin Beckford
Dr Rowan Williams said that taxation should not be seen as a way of stifling business or redistributing wealth but helping to make the world a better place in which to live.
He called for new levies to be introduced on financial transactions and carbon emissions, and an end to the idea that unlimited economic growth is desirable.
The archbishop also claimed reality television gives us “alarming glimpses” of what the world would look like were everyone to be governed by self-interest.
Dr Williams, the most senior cleric in the Church of England and a self-confessed “hairy lefty”, has made a series of critical statements since last year’s banking crisis on the excesses of the financial sector and Labour’s attempt to spend its way out of recession.
In his latest comments, delivered to the TUC Economics Conference on Monday, he pointed out that the term “economics” derives from a Greek word meaning “housekeeping” and should be about “creating a habitat that we can actually live in”.
However he said that over the past few decades, the market has been treated as an “independent authority”, creating social disruption around the world and the “extraordinary phenomena” of debt trading... Read the whole article.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Relics of St Therese of Lisieux arrive at Westminster Cathedral
Amid clouds of incense and flanked by priests carrying lanterns, the much-travelled mortal remains of an obscure French Carmelite nun were carried into Westminster Cathedral, watched by a crowd of almost 1,000 pilgrims, alternately praying and cheering.
by Elizabeth Grice
What looked like an ornate miniature church under a bullet-proof glass dome arrived in a dark grey C8 Citroen people-carrier, known in the funeral business as a “hearsette”. As religious relics go, it is huge and the eight bearers, dressed in white, swayed under its weight as they transported it down the nave to a fanfare and organ voluntary. In the precinct outside, where the service was projected onto a giant screen, the crowd joined in an exhaustive Litany to the saint.
Earlier in the day, the bones of St Therese of Lisieux, who died of tuberculosis in 1897 at the age of 24, had rested for a few hours at Wormwood Scrubs Prison, west London, for the contemplation of inmates. Now, after a month-long progress round England and Wales that has attracted 150,000 people, it is the turn of Westminster Cathedral, the Byzantine-style headquarters of Roman Catholicism in Britain, to host the portions of thigh and foot bone for public veneration... Read the whole article.
by Elizabeth Grice
What looked like an ornate miniature church under a bullet-proof glass dome arrived in a dark grey C8 Citroen people-carrier, known in the funeral business as a “hearsette”. As religious relics go, it is huge and the eight bearers, dressed in white, swayed under its weight as they transported it down the nave to a fanfare and organ voluntary. In the precinct outside, where the service was projected onto a giant screen, the crowd joined in an exhaustive Litany to the saint.
Earlier in the day, the bones of St Therese of Lisieux, who died of tuberculosis in 1897 at the age of 24, had rested for a few hours at Wormwood Scrubs Prison, west London, for the contemplation of inmates. Now, after a month-long progress round England and Wales that has attracted 150,000 people, it is the turn of Westminster Cathedral, the Byzantine-style headquarters of Roman Catholicism in Britain, to host the portions of thigh and foot bone for public veneration... Read the whole article.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Barack Obama cancels meeting with Dalai Lama 'to keep China happy'
President Barack Obama has refused to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this week in a move to curry favour with the Chinese.
by Alex Spillius
The decision came after China stepped up a campaign urging nations to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader.
It means Mr Obama will become the first president not to welcome the Nobel peace prize winner to the White House since the Dalai Lama began visiting Washington in 1991.
The Buddhist monk arrived in Washington on Monday for a week of meetings with Congressional leaders, celebrity supporters and interest groups, but the president will not see him until after he has made his first visit to China next month.
Samdhong Rinpoche, the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, has accused the United States and other Western nations of "appeasement" toward China as its economic weight grows.
"Today, economic interests are much greater than other interests," he said.
Mr Obama's decision dismayed human rights and Tibetan support groups, who said he had made an unnecessary concession to the Chinese, who regard the Dalai Lama as a "splittist", despite his calls for autonomy rather than independence for Tibet. The Chinese invaded in 1950, forcing the young leader to flee...
Read the whole article.
by Alex Spillius
The decision came after China stepped up a campaign urging nations to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader.
It means Mr Obama will become the first president not to welcome the Nobel peace prize winner to the White House since the Dalai Lama began visiting Washington in 1991.
The Buddhist monk arrived in Washington on Monday for a week of meetings with Congressional leaders, celebrity supporters and interest groups, but the president will not see him until after he has made his first visit to China next month.
Samdhong Rinpoche, the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, has accused the United States and other Western nations of "appeasement" toward China as its economic weight grows.
"Today, economic interests are much greater than other interests," he said.
Mr Obama's decision dismayed human rights and Tibetan support groups, who said he had made an unnecessary concession to the Chinese, who regard the Dalai Lama as a "splittist", despite his calls for autonomy rather than independence for Tibet. The Chinese invaded in 1950, forcing the young leader to flee...
Read the whole article.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Queen 'appalled' at Church of England moves, claim Vatican moles
When Pope Benedict visits this country next year, he is expected to stay at Buckingham Palace as a guest of the Queen. The warmth of her welcome will come as no surprise to the Pontiff, if senior sources at the Vatican are to be believed.
by Richard Eden
According to informants quoted in The Catholic Herald, the Queen has "grown increasingly sympathetic" to the Catholic Church over the years while being "appalled", along with the Prince of Wales, at developments in the Church of England.
The usually well-informed newspaper adds that the Queen, who is the Supreme Governor of the C of E, is "also said to have an affinity with the Holy Father, who is of her generation".
In July, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that the Queen had told the heads of a traditionalist group, formed in response to the liberal direction of some parts of the Anglican Communion, that she "understood their concerns" about the future of the 80 million-strong global church...
Read the whole article.
by Richard Eden
According to informants quoted in The Catholic Herald, the Queen has "grown increasingly sympathetic" to the Catholic Church over the years while being "appalled", along with the Prince of Wales, at developments in the Church of England.
The usually well-informed newspaper adds that the Queen, who is the Supreme Governor of the C of E, is "also said to have an affinity with the Holy Father, who is of her generation".
In July, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that the Queen had told the heads of a traditionalist group, formed in response to the liberal direction of some parts of the Anglican Communion, that she "understood their concerns" about the future of the 80 million-strong global church...
Read the whole article.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Barack Obama accused of making 'Depression' mistakes
by Edmund Conway
Barack Obama is committing the same mistakes made by policymakers during the Great Depression, according to a new study endorsed by Nobel laureate James Buchanan.
His policies even have the potential to consign the US to a similar fate as Argentina, which suffered a painful and humiliating slide from first to Third World status last century, the paper says.
There are "troubling similarities" between the US President's actions since taking office and those which in the 1930s sent the US and much of the world spiralling into the worst economic collapse in recorded history, says the new pamphlet, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs.
Read the whole article.
Barack Obama is committing the same mistakes made by policymakers during the Great Depression, according to a new study endorsed by Nobel laureate James Buchanan.
His policies even have the potential to consign the US to a similar fate as Argentina, which suffered a painful and humiliating slide from first to Third World status last century, the paper says.
There are "troubling similarities" between the US President's actions since taking office and those which in the 1930s sent the US and much of the world spiralling into the worst economic collapse in recorded history, says the new pamphlet, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs.
Read the whole article.
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