大象传媒

Pope Francis this month completed his first year as leader of the world鈥檚 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.听听 Five weeks ago, he made his first cardinals - 19 of them from 15 countries - including Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

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The immediate successor to Cardinals Basil Hume and Cormac Murphy-O鈥機onnor, Vincent Nichols was the youngest bishop in Britain more than 20 years ago when he served in the Westminster diocese before becoming Archbishop of Birmingham.

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He took the top job five years ago in a church still reeling from abuse scandals, and against a background of declining attendance, rejection by many of the faithful of some of its traditional teachings, and in an age he sees as 鈥渁ggressively secularist鈥�.

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He鈥檚 always been ready to offer a robust defence to that tradition on abortion, adoption, gay marriage, education鈥� how life should begin, how it should end, and how it should be lived in between.

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But who is the man behind the image of a quiet, determined priest,听described as 鈥渁mbitious for God鈥�, who cheered from the Kop as a boy and remains an unashamed and unreconstructed Liverpool fan?听听 And how does he see the church grappling with the enormous issues which confront it?听

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Before the world knew that a cardinal鈥檚 red hat would be placed on his head, Roy Jenkins spoke to him last autumn at his home in Archbishop鈥檚 House, just around the corner from Westminster Cathedral.

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