On Monday 26^th October, the UK Friends of the Anglican Centre were delighted to welcome His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, to give the Annual UK Friends Lecture. This event is usually held in Westminster Abbey, by kind permission of the Dean and Chapter, and preceded by Choral Evensong and a Eucharist. Due to this year’s pandemic restrictions, the lecture moved online which also enabled international participation.

The Cardinal’s title was The World of Reason and the World of Faith: Reflections on the Visit of Pope Benedict XVI ten years on. One of the highlights of Pope Benedict’s historic State Visit to the United Kingdom in 2010, was the major address he gave to parliamentarians and other major public figures in Westminster Hall on the topic of religion in the public square. It was a very well-received speech, in which Pope Benedict warned: “The world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization. Religion, in other words, is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation.” Cardinal Nichols went on to discuss the contribution of Pope Francis’s encyclicals Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti to the ongoing dialogue within and between cultures.

The evening concluded with questions and discussion.

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Meeting Recording:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/fzEzPob37Jyl8R8A5xtlsMndru0GxPuOHym4gIhkg6cg83im6gosvJWK3Zyle84R.f8WYcsFfHOGUmZyS

 

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