FROM BRITAIN AND IRELAND
NEWS
Nuncio’s stroke hits papal visit planning
Christopher Lamb
THE POPE’S Ambassador to Great Britain was admitted to hospital on Monday after suffering a stroke. The news that the nuncio, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, 72, has been taken seriously ill less than four months before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain is a blow for the organisers.
Archbishop Sainz has a crucial role in the trip in helping to write the Pope’s speeches and liaising with the Foreign Office and the Vatican. The Pope is also due to stay at the nuncio’s residence in Wimbledon, south-west London, during his visit.
It is understood that, should Archbishop Sainz be unable to resume his duties, the Holy See will send an experienced diplomat to cover for him. The nuncio fell ill on Monday and was taken to a hospital in London where he is due to stay for at least a week. A spokesman at the nunciature said: “We will have to wait and see for at least the next week … It’s serious.” The spokesman explained that the nuncio was conscious and able to speak although physical damage has been done by the stroke. It is not clear whether he will be able to return to work. “There are question marks over everything, we simply don’t know. It is difficult,” the spokesman added. This week, Archbishop Vincent Nichols issued a message to the bishops of England
and Wales stating: “I am very sorry to inform you that the apostolic nuncio, His Excellency the Most Reverend Faustino Sainz Muñoz, has suffered a stroke and is at present receiving medical care in hospital. Please do keep him in your prayers.”
Cardinal Keith O’Brien sent his best wishes to Archbishop Sainz and said in a statement: “I have advised the members of our confer- ence, letting them know of the nuncio’s illness and also asking for their prayers.” In the past year, the nuncio had been busy with the appointments of crucial posts to three of England and Wales’ major arch - bishoprics of Westminster, Birmingham and Southwark. As nuncio he has the arduous
■ Three members of the Birmingham Oratory have been ordered to go on retreat after disagreements with the rest of the
community, writes Christopher Lamb.
Fr Philip Cleevely, Fr Dermot Fenlon and
Br Lewis Berry have been told to spend time in prayer for an indefinite period by Fr Felix Selden, an apostolic visitor to the Oratory Congregation who has been conducting a routine visitation of the Birmingham Oratory. A spokesman for the Oratory described the decision as an “internal domestic affair” but said that there had been disagreements in the community about how best to approach the beatification of their founder Cardinal John Henry Newman.
task of compiling the shortlist or “terna” for the Holy See naming candidates to become bishops. One observer said it was very hard work and had to be done “meticulously”. His role requires a large amount of travel as both the bishops’ conferences – England and Wales and Scotland – are in his brief and he is likely to always be working on at least one terna. However, Archbishop Sainz, who comes from just outside Madrid, Spain, is widely seen as an energetic man who makes light work of the endless rounds of diplomatic parties and receptions. An experi enced diplo- mat, his falling ill is a personal disappointment as Britain is his last posting and he has never helped to organise a papal visit before.
Fr Cleevely has gone to Pluscarden
Abbey, Scotland, Fr Fenlan to Mount St Bernard Abbey, Leicestershire and Br Berry to France. There had already been difficulties in the community when, earlier this year, Fr Paul Chavasse stood down as Provost of the Birmingham Oratory and as “actor” of the Newman Cause and was replaced by Fr Richard Duffield, a priest of the Oxford Oratory. The spokesman explained that it was not clear when the three members of the community would return. “We are not sure if it’s going to be a week, a month or two months,” he said, but added that he hoped the matter would be resolved quickly.
Police promise to keep protesters at safe distance from the Pope
POLICE WILL keep Pope Benedict XVI out of touching distance from crowds when he visits the UK in September, with senior offi- cers preparing for a significant level of protest from various pressure groups, according to the chief constable in charge of security for
the trip, writes Paul Wilkinson.
Meredydd Hughes, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, who is coordinating police operations in England and Scotland for the visit, also said that the Pope faces the threat of attack from terrorist organisations. Mr Hughes has just returned from observ- ing the Pope’s security during his tour of Portugal and he promised that arrangements here would be tougher. “At his first Mass in Porto the Pope was on foot, within touching distance of unsearched crowds,” he said. “This is not a criticism of the Portuguese police –they ran a very effective, very profes- sional operation – but the threat level is different in the UK and we must therefore
38 | THE TABLET | 22 May 2010
apply slightly different standards in security. The Pope is less likely to be within touching distance of unsearched, unvetted people.” Mr Hughes added that protests were likely and that there was a threat of terrorism. “Previous experience has shown that the Pope is also more likely to be subject to a higher level of terrorist threat … it is a matter of record that the UK is subject more to terrorist attacks.” He said that Benedict XVI will make great use of his “Popemobile” which he described as “a very secure piece of equipment”. However, he promised: “The public can
expect to get as close to him as is necessary to see him clearly, without being close enough to cause him injury or assault.” He said there was a possibility of protests by a number of groups relating to contracep- tion, abortion, gay rights and paedophilia. “There are groups that would be more likely to protest over a papal visit than normally take to the streets in Great Britain,” he said.
“I want the protesters to feel they have had a fair crack of the whip in terms of making their views known, but at no time will we permit the quiet enjoyment of vigils or Masses to be disturbed by unlawful activity.” It is also understood that Government offi- cials have taken legal advice on the threat by some humanist groups to seek an arrest war- rant for the Pope, accusing him of failing to act over cases of child abuse, but it seems unlikely they will have any legal force. The threat of someone attempting a citi- zen’s arrest has been discounted. “Anyone stepping out of the crowd is likely to get arrested,” said Mr Hughes, who has respon- sibility for all uniformed police operations for the Association of Chief Police Officers of England and Wales. He was scheduled to discuss safety measures with Archbishop Vincent Nichols yesterday and plans meetings to brief church officials on the security oper- ation in the run-up to the visit.
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