Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Blair 'will meet the Pope, then become Catholic'

Daily Mail
Last updated at 14:37pm on 22nd June 2007

Tony Blair will tomorrow meet with Pope Benedict XVI before he announces his conversion to Roman Catholicism, according to friends of the Prime Minister.

They say Mr Blair will formalise the switch to his wife's faith shortly after he surrenders office next week.

Officially, Mr Blair and Pope Benedict will discuss the situation in the Middle East and the possibility of a papal visit to the UK.

But yesterday it emerged that the Prime Minister is also using the trip to cement his plans to become a Catholic as soon as he hands power to Gordon Brown on Wednesday.


When in Rome? Prime Minister Tony Blair, who may be about to convert to Catholicism, with Pope Benedict XVI

"It is clear to many people that this is now going to happen," a source said. Mr Blair's attendances at Catholic services have caused controversy in the past.

All four of his children were baptised as Catholics, and Mr Blair used to attend Mass at St Joan of Arc Church in Islington while opposition leader in the mid-1990s.

But after becoming Prime Minister in 1997, he was told to stop taking communion in public by the late Cardinal Hume, then leader of Catholics in England and Wales.

Since then, he has celebrated private Masses with Father Michael Seed - regarded as unofficial chaplain to Westminster - in Downing Street. To convert, Mr Blair must undergo a formal course of instruction from a Catholic priest - including a rite of initiation into the faith, which usually takes place at Easter.
more...

posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 12:10 PM