Pope to Britain, beatification of Cardinal Newman

On Thursday, September 16, Pope Benedict will begin his first official visit to Britain. During the visit, he will meet Queen Elizabeth II, the heads of government and heads of the Church. He will also convene with the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, as well as representatives of the different religions present in Britain.

The peak of the visit will be the mass in Birmingham, on Sunday, September 19, when the Pope will proclaim the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Newman was born in England in 1801 and became an Anglican priest in 1824. A brilliant intellectual, his writings and his homilies impressed his peers. In stages, he drew closer to the Catholic tradition and was one of the founders of the Oxford Movement, which called on the Anglican Church to return to the traditions that had been predominant before the split with Rome. In 1845, he was formally accepted into the Roman Catholic Church and a year later was ordained a Catholic priest, belonging to the movement of Oratorians, founded in the 16th century. He spent the rest of his days writing and teaching and consecrated his best efforts to defending the faith in a modern age. His book, "Grammar of Assent" is an important composition, justifying faith in an age of reason. Pope Leon XIII bestowed the rank of cardinal on Newman in 1879. He died in 1890. Newman wrote his autobiography, Apologia pro vita sua (A defense of his life), regarded as one of the most important autobiographies in Christian literature

To read Newman's autobiography in English

To read "The Grammar of Assent" in English