Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said he hopes the Pope will issue an Apostolic Exhortation following the family synod. Asked about his hopes for the synod at a Vatican press conference today, the spiritual leader of Catholics in England and Wales said: “My hope is that that Pope will issue an exhortation. “My hope is that he will complete this process because it seems to me that it will need bringing to a conclusion, and there’s only one person who can do that.” The cardinal said that although the synod fathers were “very tired” as they reached the synod's mid-way point, “there is no sense of stalemate”. At the press conference Cardinal Nichols also criticised British government policies which “mitigate against the stability of marriages”. The cardinal said that although Britain was a seemingly “benign” country, some British citizens could not bring their spouses to the UK because they lived outside the European Union. He said this policy undermined family life.