POPE BENEDICT has appointed Archbishop Vincent Nichols (63) as primate of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, it was announced in London yesterday.
Currently archbishop of Birmingham, Dr Nichols will succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor (76), who retires next month.
Before Cardinal Murphy O’Connor’s appointment in February 2000, Dr Nichols was considered by many to be front-runner for the post. He had by then been an auxiliary bishop in Westminster for eight years under Cardinal Basil Hume. It is believed he did not succeed Cardinal Hume because of a perception that he was too liberal.
In February 2000 he was appointed archbishop of Birmingham, in which role he has been more overtly supportive of the Vatican.
Speaking yesterday about his appointment to Westminster, he said he had “just swallowed hard and said ‘Yes’, ” when he was asked by the Vatican to take up the new role.
Born at Crosby on Merseyside, his parents Henry and Mary Russell were teachers. He attended St Mary’s College in Crosby and the English College in Rome, from where he was ordained in December 1969. Subsequently he studied at the Gregorian University in Rome, at the University of Manchester and Loyola University in Chicago.
He worked in the archdiocese of Liverpool for 14 years before being ordained bishop in 1992 by Cardinal Hume.
It was reported that he had been chosen personally for Westminster by Pope Benedict when the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops failed to agree on a candidate after some intense lobbying, some of its against Dr Nichols.
He is thought to have won the pope’s favour due to his support for the canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman, of whose work Benedict has made a study.
