Pius XII on Newman

On the anniversary of John Henry Newman’s reception into the Catholic Church (9th October 1845), The Newman Cause website publish the full text of Pope Pius XII’s letter to the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Griffin, marking the 1945 centenary celebrations. The Pope’s letter is a striking witness to Newman’s incessant quest for truth, and to the profound significance of his conversion for the modern Church. It also powerfully highlights the special bond, symbolised in Newman, between the Catholic Church of England and Wales and the Apostolic See. The Pope chose this occasion to remind the Archbishop of Westminster: ‘ever since the first days of Christianity you have treated Our Predecessors, not as citizens of an alien country, but as Fathers that loved you.’

To our Worshipful Brother Bernard Griffin, Archbishop of Westminster
Pius XII, Pope

Worshipful Brother, Health and Apostolic Benediction.

A century has now all but run its course since John Henry Newman, the pride of Britain and of the universal Church, came to harbour after his long voyage in search of Catholic truth. With anxious and loving care he had sought it; with ready assent he acknowledged at last the warning accents of the Divine Voice. You, as the president of the English and Welsh Hierarchies, have written to Us most dutifully, in your own name and that of your fellow Bishops, with the request that We should share with you this happy opportunity for recalling his memory. Such a request must not go unheeded; We bear you a father’s love, and you have good cause for rejoicing; nor do We forget the close relations which, as your ancestral records show, have existed from the earliest times between England and the Holy See. As you know, ever since the first days of Christianity you have treated Our Predecessors, not as citizens of an alien country, but as Fathers that loved you. Not once but many times heralds of heavenly truth have reached those islands of yours, sent by the Apostolic See to teach you Christian ways while they were still unknown to you, or to revive them and restore them to their former estimation when time had loosened their hold on you.

Read more at:

The official website for the Cause for Cardinal Newman's Canonisation

http://www.newmancause.co.uk/