Archbishop Richard Moth gave his first press conference as the new head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales today.
He was only recently back from Rome, where he joined the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, in meeting Pope Leo. She had, he recalled, spoken at his installation, and he had done a reading at hers not long after, so when the invitation to Rome was extended to him, he accepted, and they turned up together at 9am for the audience with Pope Leo. ‘There was clear recognition by the Holy Father,’ said Archbishop Moth, ‘of obstacles and differences but also of the importance of being able to speak together.’ Was Sarah Mullally’s being a woman an additional impediment to unity? The differences, repeated the archbishop, were acknowledged by the Pope, but nonetheless there was a desire to prolong their conversation.
