INSIDE THIS ISSUE

THE FULL TEXTS OF ALL BENEDICT XVI’S ADDRESSES DURING HIS HISTORIC VISIT TO BRITAIN

No. 6474

CatholicHerald.co.uk

September 24 2010 £1.20 (Republic of Ireland €1.70)

Four days that changed Britain

Pope Benedict XVI joins members of the Vatican entourage and bishops of Scotland, England and Wales in welcoming young people outside Westminster Cathedral after Mass on Saturday Jeff Moore/Empics Entertainment

BY SIMON CALDWELL

POPE BENEDICT XVI’s visit to Britain ended in magnificent triumph after four days of Masses, speeches, public appearances and the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

The German-born Pontiff made history by becoming the first pope to make a state visit to Britain, the first to visit the Archbishop at Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, the first to address parliamentarians at Westminster Hall, the first to preach in Westminster Abbey and the first to perform a beatification on British soil.

Ahead of the trip the media had predicted widespread apathy among Catholics and low turnouts at papal events. But more than half a million people made the effort to welcome Pope Benedict in person as the British people took him to their hearts.

For many it was the first time that they had the chance to glimpse the meek, gentle and scholarly personality of a man often caricatured as gaffe-prone or severely autocratic – and the chance to hear his words as spoken rather than mediated through a filter of prejudice and ignorance.

The hyperbolic complaints of the most severe anti-papal critics began to fade into insignificance as soon as the Holy Father made his opening address in the presence of the Queen at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh.

Setting the tone for much of the rest of his trip the Pope sounded a warning to the country not to reject either the natural moral law or the role of religion in society. He praised Britain’s

Christian identity for giving the country the strength to resist the “aggressive atheism” of such 20th-century ideologies as Nazism that “wished to eradicate God from society”.

After first passing through Edinburgh wearing a specially designed papal tartan, he later urged 55,000 worshippers at a Mass in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, to reject the notion that the Christian faith was opposed to equality and liberty, saying it was in fact the true guarantee of human dignity and authentic human rights.

After the hectic first day Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, remarked that the visit was off to best possible start – but better was yet to come. The Pope’s next appointment was the Big Assembly at St Mary’s University College, in Twickenham, London, described as a “rousing encounter” with nearly 4,000 schoolchildren and witnessed on the internet by 800,000 more.

This was the occasion of what some observers felt was one of the Pope’s most moving speeches, when he invited the young to aim to be saints by eschewing the lures of wealth and fame for holiness and friendship with Christ.

Later that afternoon the Pope met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr RowanWilliams, and other Anglican bishops at Lambeth Palace, the place where St Thomas More

Continued on Page 2

Papal visit reports: Pages 2-9

Papal Visit 2010 Official Illustrated Record

Publication Date

30 Sept 2010

200 pages of official photos & speeches by the Pope and others background information on Newman & the Church in Britain A4-size glossy softback re-live the joy,

read again the words of the Holy Father

Order these and more souvenirs at www.cts-online.org.uk

To order by post, return this form indicating quantities in spaces provided Do837 Benedict XVI & Newman – Official Record £14.95 ......... 6856 Blessed J. H. Newman – Illustrated Biography £14.95 ......... Add UK postage: 1 copy, add £3.00; 2 or 3 copies, add £6.00; 4 or more copies, add £7; 15 or more, post free. Overseas orders, order through our website. Cheques payable to “Catholic Truth Society”. For credit card orders, order online or call 020 7640 0042 during office hours. Tick if you don’t want us to add you to our free catalogue mailing list.

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A D H E 2 0 1 0

Vatican spokesman is confident that Newman will be canonised

BY SIMON CALDWELL

THE VATICAN’S spokesman has expressed his confidence that Blessed John Henry Newman will be canonised.

Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi said there was also a “concrete possibility” that he will be declared a Doctor of the Church.

Fr Lombardi said that the Pope was “very respectful” of the rules on canonisation and would wait until a second miracle has been verified.

“But we are confident that there will also be the canonisation,” he added.

Fr Lombardi explained that Blessed John Henry’s life and works have been elevated by the Pope’s decision to perform the beatification in person last Sunday rather than send a Vatican delegate to preside over the ceremony.

He said this meant that there will be many people around the world who would pray for graces, favours and healings through Blessed

John Henry’s intercession, leaving him “optimistic” that a miracle would follow soon.

It emerged last week that the Archdiocese of Mexico is already investigating claims that a baby who was “severely deformed” in his mother’s womb was born healthy after his mother prayed to Blessed John Henry for a miracle.

Speculation that Blessed John Henry will also be declared a Doctor mounted after the Pope referred to him in that capacity on the flight to Britain.

He praised him as a man of “exceptional greatness for our time”, adding: “Therefore it is a figure of Doctor of the Church for us, for all.”

Fr Ian Ker, the Newman scholar, said it was “foregone conclusion” that Blessed John Henry would be made a Doctor of the Church once canonised.

Beatification report: Page 9 Cofton Park homily: Page 20

Mothers rejoice as Pope blesses babies

Youth worker gains fame through banner

BY ED WEST

A POLISH mother said it was “the happiest day in all of my life” after her baby became the first to be kissed by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit.

Marzena Tyszczak was among 65,000 people in Bellahouston Park to greet the Pope, and was carrying her 11-month-old daughter Maria when he arrived. As the Popemobile drew near she passed her daughter to a security man who lifted the baby up to the Pontiff, who kissed her.

The Pope’s travels were thereafter punctuated by stops to kiss other babies. Ese Ijasan, 30, from Manchester, described it as the “biggest thing” that had happened in her life when security men picked out her daughter Aderonke to be kissed.

At Twickenham the Pope even replaced a dummy spat out by an eight-month-old baby he had kissed before he passed the child back to her mother.

BY SIMON CALDWELL

IF PRIZES were handed out for the wittiest banner in support of the Pope then Niamh Moloney (pictured) would surely have swept the board.

The Northampton diocesan youth worker and her friends amused millions when television cameras captured them waving banners bearing such slogans as, “We love you Papa more than beans on toast” and

“Catholic über alles” at

Cofton Park. She also carried a placard saying: “Give it some welly for the Pope in the park” – devised to match her colourful boots. “We just wanted to make some joyful noise because there was so much negative stuff,” said Miss Moloney, 25.

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