Cardinal's Homilies
My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ
Just three weeks ago, Pope Francis made public his Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family, entitled
This exhortation embraces many topics; it also embraces the reality of our lives. Pope Francis talks...Read more
Given at the Mass celebrating the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, 1 May 2016, at Ealing Abbey.
I am most happy to be with you today to celebrate this great anniversary. I understand full well that these ...Read more
‘Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.’
With these words Pope Francis opened the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy which is now underway. The Holy Father’s words are unequivocal, and they are true. Y...Read more
At the beginning of our ceremony this evening we used words which expressed our hope and prayer: ‘May the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.’ The darkness is real, this week shown most emphatically on ...Read more
Later this afternoon, in a moment of deeply spiritual drama, the Cross of Christ and the figure hanging upon it will be slowly revealed to us. We have heard the Gospel narrative of his suffering and death. Now we shall see with our eyes the image ...Read more
This evening’s ceremony and the events it celebrates have a lovely homely feel to them. We are in the inner circle of Jesus’ friends. We are among those whom he trusts with his most precious gift and message. We are privileged to be here, priv...Read more
For me, this is one of the most joyful celebrations of the year, every year! We gather embracing and expressing the sheer joy of our faith, the joy of knowing Jesus as our Lord, the joy of being together as his beloved in his Church, this great fa...Read more
Today we enter Holy Week and I welcome you to this solemn celebration of Palm Sunday. I welcome especially the staff and seminarians from Allen Hall. Please pray for them, our future priests.
Today we join the Lord on his entry to Jerusalem. In...Read more
This celebration of thanksgiving for the 150th Anniversary of St Joseph’s Missionary Society, the Mill Hill Missionaries, is a marvellous occasion for us all. I feel very much part of it. After all, the Mill Hill Missionaries, founded by a pri...Read more
‘Seeing and feeling how very hard it was to send away the poor, dismissed by the doctors as beyond hope of recovery, some having very poor homes and other no friends willing to receive them, they bethought themselves of having a hospice or home ...Read more
Maria de la Soledad Micaela Desmaissieres y Lopez de Dicastillo
The Spanish certainly do have a way with names!
It is Maria Micaela for whom we thank God this evening: for her life, her faith, her inventiveness, her dedication, her trust, ...Read more
This afternoon I would like to tell you a story of a young man, aged about 17. Early one evening he was walking past a church and felt a strong urge, a call, to go inside. As he sat there, he saw a priest going into the confessional. Then, surpris...Read more
A few years ago, as part of my summer holiday, I went to Munich airport so that one of my companions could catch a plane home. Leaving the airport, the rest of us caught sight of a signpost for Dachau. So we went, even though it is hardly a holida...Read more
Today we warmly welcome two new bishops into our diocesan church. What a great moment and what a blessing we are receiving, a blessing to strengthen us in so many ways.
As you so well know, the Church's storehouse is full of splendid statemen...Read more
This night, in the words of the Gospel of St Luke, we are summoned by the angel to the crib, in the town of David, in Bethlehem. We are told that there we will find ‘news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people’. To emphasise the ...Read more
‘Jesus is the true face of God’s mercy.’
These are words to keep very much in mind as we prepare to welcome the birth of Jesus, on this Feast of Christmas. This evening, in a wonderful way, we are led more deeply towards the moment of t...Read more