The bishops of England and Wales will pose with Pope Benedict to recreate a historic painting of the restoration of the hierarchy in Britain.
When Pope Benedict XVI goes to St Mary’s College near Birmingham at the end of his visit to Britain, he will sit at the middle of a circle of bishops for a photograph that will recreate a historic moment in the British Church’s history.
The painting, which will be recreated with Pope Benedict at its heart features the first Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster Nicholas Wiseman and other bishops. Cardinal Newman is also part of the meeting, which was the first Provincial Synod of Westminster to take place after the hierarchy was restored in 1850. Pope Pius IX issued a papal bull “universalis ecclesae” establishing the hierarchy in England. Until then Britain had been treated as mission territory.
