{"id":426623,"date":"2026-02-15T06:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/426623\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T06:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:46:12","slug":"new-archbishop-of-westminster-urges-greater-understanding-of-struggles-of-the-vulnerable-catholicism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/426623\/","title":{"rendered":"New archbishop of Westminster urges greater understanding of struggles of \u2018the vulnerable\u2019 | Catholicism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales has said the church has failed vulnerable people, urging more work to be done to address the struggle of refugees and learn from victims of abuse.<\/p>\n

At a ceremony where he was officially installed in his new role as archbishop of Westminster, Richard Moth said: \u201cHere, I am most aware of every occasion on which members of the church, or the church as a whole, have failed \u2013 most especially when the vulnerable have been abused.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch failure calls for listening to, and learning from, those who have suffered so grievously \u2013 and a continuing commitment to ensuring that our communities are places where all are safe in their encounter with Christ and with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the congregation of 2,000 people in Westminster Cathedral on Saturday, the new archbishop added that the church\u2019s \u201cvital\u201d evangelical work is \u201cfragile and adversely impacted by our failures in love, power and self-control\u201d.<\/p>\n

Moth was named as the 12th archbishop of Westminster by Pope Leo XIV in December, when he became the leader of the approximately 4 million Catholics in England and Wales.<\/p>\n

The Westminster role was previously held by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who retired after 16 years. Moth said Nichols is now moving \u201cto slightly more restful pastures\u201d.<\/p>\n

Moth was born in Zambia but moved to Kent in his early years. His previous role was as bishop of Arundel and Brighton; before that he was bishop of the Forces.<\/p>\n

The new leader has spoken publicly about issues surrounding migration and condemned the recent comments<\/a> made by billionaire and co-owner of Manchester United, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Press Association, he said: \u201cSpeaking into a debate is fine, but the language is unfortunate, and I think that approach that he expressed is a deeply unfortunate one. I would disagree with it wholeheartedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, among the clerics gathered for the installation of Richard Moth as the 12th archbishop of Westminster. Photograph: Lucy North\/PA<\/p>\n

He also criticised government policies to house asylum seekers in hotels. \u201cI think the debate I would like to see is how can we best approach this issue? Having people living in hotels for long periods of time is not ideal,\u201d he said in the same interview.<\/p>\n

At the ceremony in Westminster, the new archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, said Moth has a \u201cdeep concern for the dignity of every person\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a world marked by division and uncertainty, the call to unity flows from the heart of the gospel itself \u2013 our traditions are not weakened by friendship, they are deepened when we walk together in charity, honesty and truth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Moth has also spoken about the \u201copportunity\u201d for the church to capture the interest of new believers.<\/p>\n

In an interview<\/a> with the Catholic Herald this month, he said: \u201cMost dioceses report increased adult baptisms and a gradual rise in people coming to church. Numbers are picking up again after Covid, though not yet back to pre-pandemic levels. There is also growing interest from young adults exploring or entering the church. So there is a great opportunity here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales has said the church has failed vulnerable people,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-426623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}