Could Archbishop of Westminster Get a Last-Minute Conclave Call-Up?

By John Bingham
The Telegraph
February 26, 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9893159/Could-Archbishop-of-Westminster-get-a-last-minute-Conclave-call-up.html

Archbishop Nichols was appointed as leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales almost four years ago

The decision by Cardinal Keith O’Brien to give up his role in choosing the next Pope has prompted renewed calls for the Archbishop of Westminster, the most Rev Vincent Nichols, to be made a Cardinal.

Archbishop Nichols was appointed as leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales almost four years ago.

But because his predecessor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, was already a member of the College of Cardinals, which elects the Pope, he was not elevated to the most senior position – in line with recent tradition that there is only one English or Welsh voting Cardinal.

Yet under Church law, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor no longer has a vote after he turned 80 last summer. It means that the Church in England and Wales will not be represented in the vote.

Now, following Cardinal O’Brien’s decision to stand aside, there will be no UK voice in the Conclave.

But Vatican watchers noted that, in the wake of the Pope’s resignation and a series of other surprise announcements, the possibility that he could appoint some more Cardinals, potentially including Archbishop Nichols, could not be excluded.