A day of firsts

On his second day in the United Kingdom Pope Benedict XVI went to Westminster Hall for a meeting with the representatives of British society, including the Diplomatic corps , politicians, academics and busines leaders . Sean Patrick Lovett reports:


There’s a first time for everything...and for everyone. Even the Pope. And for Benedict XVI, Friday the 17th was his day of firsts. The day was a steady build-up that began first thing in the morning with his first Mass celebrated in the papal nunciature. His second first (if you’ll excuse the expression) came when he visited St Mary’s University College for a celebration of Catholic education. There, for the first time, he forthrightly and unambiguously invited young people and children to become “the future saints of the twenty-first century”...

" I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the twenty-first century.

But the biggest firsts came in the afternoon when Benedict XVI became the first-ever Pope to enter Lambeth Palace, the official and historic residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London. It was there that he spoke about “friendship” and “progress” in Catholic-Anglican relations...

"I wish to join you in giving thanks for the deep friendship that has grown between us and for the remarkable progress that has been made in so many areas of dialogue during the forty years that have elapsed since the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission began its work. Let us entrust the fruits of that work to the Lord of the harvest, confident that he will bless our friendship with further significant growth. "

One first deserves another – and that’s what happened immediately afterwards when the Pope crossed the River Thames and entered the hallowed halls of Westminster, seat of the British Parliament and world-famous post-card picture. Here, he gave an historic address to an illustrious gathering that included a scintillating smattering of British who’s-who: from former Prime Ministers, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, to the best of British economists, academics, diplomats and others. After pausing on the very spot where former Lord Chancellor of England, Sir Thomas More, was condemned to death in 1535 for choosing to follow his Catholic faith rather than his king, the Pope delivered a wide-ranging discourse during which he pointedly referred to what he called “More’s dilemma” and to the “proper place of religious belief within the political process”...

"The dilemma which faced More in those difficult times, the perennial question of the relationship between what is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God, allows me the opportunity to reflect with you briefly on the proper place of religious belief within the political process.

But the day of firsts wasn’t over yet. It culminated with an evening prayer service at Westminster Abbey, a deeply significant event since it marked the first time any Pope had ever entered this most important of Anglican churches and landmarks: it’s where most British monarchs have been crowned since 1066, including Henry VIII, the king responsible for suppressing Catholicism in Britain ...in the first place.