Following on from the announcement on Saturday 7 May that Sadiq Khan had been elected as the new Mayor of London, Cardinal Vincent issued the following statement:
'I welcome Sadiq Khan as the new Mayor of London. I assure him of my prayers for his time in this important office in which he will face the great challenges of London, in its richness, diversity and energy.
'Yesterday Pope Francis reflected on these challenges. Speaking of the great cities of Europe he used these words:
"Many of our cities are remarkably beautiful precisely because they have managed to preserve over time traces of different ages, nations, styles and visions...the richness and worth of a people is grounded in its ability to combine all these levels in a healthy coexistence. Forms of reductionism and attempts at uniformity, far from generating value, condemn our peoples to a cruel poverty: the poverty of exclusion. Far from bestowing grandeur, riches and beauty, exclusion leads to vulgarity, narrowness, and cruelty. Far from bestowing nobility of spirit, it brings meanness."
'May this same spirit inspire the leadership of our new Mayor.'
