Blair seals his faith with conversion to Catholicism

Published on Saturday 22 December 2007 18:50

TONY Blair has finally become a Roman Catholic following lengthy speculation that he would convert after he resigned as Prime Minister.

He was received into the Catholic Church by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, in the chapel of the Archbishop's House in Westminster on Friday night.

His conversion from the Anglican church was widely welcomed, although critics called on him to declare whether he had fully repented and now regretted voting against Catholic teachings on social issues such as abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage and Sunday trading.

Blair's wife Cherie and four children are Catholics and Blair, now a Middle East peace envoy, has regularly attended Mass at Westminster Cathedral and Chequers.

One of his last acts as prime minister was to visit Pope Benedict in June – his third trip to the Vatican in four years – which prompted speculation that he was seeking the Pontiff's approval before converting.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor welcomed Blair into the church, saying: "For a long time he has been a regular worshipper at Mass with his family and in recent months he has been following a programme of formation to prepare for his reception into full communion."

Monsignor Mark O'Toole, the cardinal's private secretary, led Blair through his period of spiritual preparation before Friday night's ceremony.

The cardinal added: "My prayers are with him, his wife and family at this joyful moment in their journey of faith together."

Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who became a Catholic in 1993, said Blair had consistently voted against Church teaching on issues including abortion and Sunday trading.

She said: "I think the crucial thing to remember is at the point you are received (into the Catholic church] you have to say individually and out loud, 'I believe everything the Church teaches to be revealed truth'.

"And that means if you previously had any problems with Church teaching, as Tony Blair obviously did over abortion, as he did again over Sunday trading… you would have to say you changed your mind.

"And I think people will want to know that he did go through that process, because otherwise it will seem as if the Church did make an exception for somebody just because of who he is."

Widdecombe said that being a Catholic should be no bar to high office in politics.

"It's perfectly possible to be a practising Catholic and play a very major role, including the most major role, in British politics in this country.

"One could really say, 'Come on Tony, you should have been setting the example. You should have been demonstrating how possible it is'.

"But really we don't know what the reasons for the delay were."

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said it was writing to Blair to ask him whether he repented of the "anti-life" positions he advocated as an MP.

John Smeaton, SPUC's national director, said: "During his premiership Tony Blair became one of the world's most significant architects of the culture of death, promoting abortion, experimentation on unborn embryos, including cloned embryos, and euthanasia by neglect."

If Blair had converted while still in Number 10, he would have become the first Catholic Prime Minister.

But his reluctance to convert sooner may have been an attempt to avoid potential conflicts in his roles in negotiating the Northern Ireland peace process and in choosing Church of England bishops.