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	New Leader of English and Welsh Catholics Could Be Named Within Weeks By Edward Chadwick Birmingham Post March 30, 2009 http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2009/03/30/new-leader -of-english-and-welsh-catholics-could-be-named-within-weeks-65233-23260183/ A decision which could see the Archbishop of Birmingham become the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales looks set to be made within weeks. As Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor prepares to step down from the post he has held for nine years, religious spectators have placed the Most Rev Vincent Nichols among the front-runners. The 63-year-old has made his name as a robust defender of Catholic schools, adoption agencies and the presentation of the Catholic Church in the media. Archbishop Nichols was the second English bishop after Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor to be blessed by Pope Benedict XVI and he has enthusiastically endorsed the Pontiff's drive for liturgical renewal in the Church. Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor used his final pastoral letter to urge Catholics to be "brave and courageous" and has begun a series of farewell masses. He said it was difficult for people to hear and experience the presence of God in a "very secular" society. "Yet everywhere I go - and I meet people who are not necessarily fellow-Catholic or Christian - they often want to talk to me about the meaning of their life, the hopes they have for themselves and their children," added the 76-year-old. "Our message, which is the message of good news for the poor, a message of hope and meaning for everyone, is so important that we should understand that each one of us has to be brave, courageous, in the profession of our faith." His said his nine years as Archbishop had been "very eventful and fulfilling". The Cardinal will be the first Archbishop of Westminster to retire in post since the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in the 19th century. Archbishop Nichols was born in Crosby, Liverpool, and began his life as priest at a parish in Wigan, where he was also chaplain to a sixth form college and school. He left the diocese of Liverpool in 1984 to become general secretary of the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales and was made an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Westminster in 1992 before eventually becoming the Archbishop of Birmingham in 2000. Names of potential candidates to succeed Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor have been submitted to the Congregation for Bishops in Rome, which is responsible for recommending one of the names to Pope Benedict XVI. Despite meeting for what is understood to be the third time to discuss the candidates, they failed to reach a consensus. Others thought to be in the running include The Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Cardiff; The Rt Rev Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds; The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, Bishop of Nottingham and The Rt Rev Bernard Longley, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster. Speculation over who is going to succeed the Cardinal has increased in recent weeks, with many observers mystified that an announcement is still to be made. However, Peter Jennings, Archbishop Nichols' press secretary, said: "The Vatican always goes through a very meticulous process when it appoints a new Archbishop of Westminster and I am confident they will pick the right person. "I would be surprised if there wasn't a decision within the next three or four weeks, but there is no date on a piece of paper."
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