|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Is Tony Blair Becoming a Catholic?
Persistent rumors that British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a Protestant, may convert to Roman Catholicism got a strong boost when the Times of London revealed Sunday that a Franciscan friar has been celebrating Mass for the Blair family at Number 10 Downing St., the prime minister's official residence. Blair, nominally an Anglican, Britain's official religious denomination, has repeatedly denied reports that he plans to convert to Catholicism, his wife's religion. The Times notes that Blair participates in the Mass but does not receive Holy Communion. Attending Mass has been a longtime practice of the prime minister. All of his four children share their mother's Catholicism, and the family has been quietly attending Mass not only at at home, but also at their official country residence, Chequers, since 2003, when they had to stop going to Westminster Cathedral and to other Catholic churches because of security concerns. Blair has previously denied he plans to convert to Catholicism, something that not too long ago would have been considered an outrage and a crime against the Queen, who is the official head of the Anglican Church. He says he only attends Catholic services so his family can worship together. There has never been a Catholic British prime minister, and Blair's wife, Cherie, is the first Downing St. spouse of a prime minister to be a member of the Catholic Church. Writing in the Guardian newspaper on Sept. 28, 2004, Francis Beckett and David Hencke noted that "Tony Blair today is effectively a Roman Catholic, though he has not yet, to our knowledge, been formally received into the church." Blair has been attending Mass with his family for years, and was once reprimanded for receiving Holy Communion by Cardinal Basil Hume. According to the Guardian, Blair attended Mass even before becoming prime minister. The Guardian reported that he regularly attended Mass at Westminster Cathedral, more often than not by himself, and always took Holy Communion. "The priests there knew him well," the Guardian wrote. "He would normally either attend the 9 a.m. Mass with his family, or the 5:30 p.m. Mass by himself." In 2003, when the Blairs visited the Vatican, they had a private meeting with Pope John Paul II. The pope's secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, said a Mass just for the two of them, and both received Holy Communion from him. The Guardian, speculated that the pope would not have allowed that unless he was sure his visitor was, in his heart, a Roman Catholic. "The question of Tony's faith is dormant by decision," says a Catholic who knows the Blairs well, told the Guardian. "They have decided not to let news of his Catholicism break while Tony is prime minister."
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Inside Cover Stories
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2009 NewsMax.Com |