Church of England delegation attends Proclamation of St John Henry Newman as Doctor of the Church

During Mass in St Peter’s Square on Saturday 1 November 2025, the Solemnity of All Saints, the Holy Father Leo XIV solemnly proclaimed Saint John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Universal Church. John Henry Newman was ordained in the Church of England in 1824. The sermons that he preached as an Anglican priest in the University Church in Oxford, later published in an eight-volume collection entitled Parochial and Plain Sermons are considered among his most important theological writings. He is commemorated in the liturgical calendars of the Church of England and several other churches. Newman entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in 1845. Pope Leo XIII created him a Cardinal in 1879.

At the beginning of the Rite of Proclamation, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, recalled that the petition of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales requesting that Newman be declared a Doctor, was accompanied by “the fraternal support of the Church of England”. He was referring to a letter to Pope Francis from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in February 2024, in which they said “we hold Newman to be a truly ecumenical theologian whose thought, like the early Doctors of the Church, will continue to shape the way in which the faithful think about their faith, discipleship and ecclesial home for generations to come”.

The Church of England sent an official delegation to the celebration. It was led by the His Grace Stephen Cottrell (Archbishop of York and Primate of England), and included the Right Revd Guli Francis-Dehqani (Bishop of Chelmsford), the Right Revd Anthony Ball (Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome), the Right Reverend Martin Warner (Bishop of Chichester), the Revd Matthias Grebe (National Adviser for Ecumenical Relations) and the Revd Will Lamb (Vicar of the University Church, Oxford).

In his Angelus greeting at the end of Mass, Pope Leo said: “I am very pleased to welcome the official delegation of the Church of England, led by His Grace Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York. Following the historic prayer meeting with His Majesty King Charles III, celebrated a few days ago in the Sistine Chapel, your presence today expresses our shared joy at the proclamation of Saint John Henry Newman as a Doctor of the Church. From Heaven, may he accompany Christians on their journey towards full union.”