By Lianne Kolirin
Cardinal Vincent Nichols has distanced himself from the Vatican’s refusal to criticise the head of the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
While the Pope has repeatedly spoken out about the war, he has not publicly condemned Russian President Vladmir Putin or indeed Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Speaking at the fourth annual Religion Media Festival, the Archbishop of Westminster said: “We’ve seen a certain caution from the Holy See in not outrightly condemning Russia.”
In a recorded interview with journalist and broadcaster Roger Bolton, the festival’s keynote speaker said: “I don’t think there’s any doubt at all about who is the aggressor.”
The cardinal believes the Pope’s reluctance to condemn Putin is driven by his “deepest desire” to end the conflict.
“Nobody expresses more eloquently the horror of warfare and its destructive nature,” he said of the Pope.
“He would say all this aggression, this destruction, is abominable. It’s awful and it must be brought to a halt. But I think he still wishes to keep that door open. I don’t entertain that stance myself.”
Cardinal Nichols said he personally “could not open a conversation” with Patriarch Kirill because of his support for the Kremlin.
Nevertheless, he “tries to understand some of the difficulties that they’re in”. The ties between church and the “powers that be” are “quite inhibiting,” he said.
“It’s easy from here to say the Patriarch Kirill should be condemning the actions of Putin and the Russian armed forces. But then I don’t wear his shoes and I’m not not under the influences that he’s under.”
The cardinal apologised for not being there in person, but explained that he’s in Rome at a meeting of the Santa Marta Group, an alliance between the church and international police chiefs to “fight against human slavery”.
Modern day slaves, he said, are “deeply deceived” by traffickers using false promises to lure them into a range of sectors including agriculture, nail bars and car washes.
Conflict and climate change both contribute to the mounting problem, said the cardinal, who called for “new international accords” to tackle it.
Having previously described government plans to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda as “lacking in compassion”, he said: “It’s unacceptable for Britain … to pass on to somebody else its legal responsibilities.”
He said he was “deeply puzzled” by the £120m scheme which will see illegal migrants transported to the East African country. “You cannot say this is a good deal, people will get a fair hearing and a good opportunity in Rwanda – and also say it’s going to act as a severe deterrent. It just doesn’t make sense”.
The public, he argued, is more welcoming, highlighting the overwhelming response to the Homes for Ukraine appeal. “It’s a strong indicator of that tradition of British compassion,” he said, adding that such compassion has also helped fight poverty in Britain.
He believes that religious organisations and social cohesion are key to tackling such issues:.“We have a systematic programme now of moving from what’s called food poverty to food resilience,” he said, as he outlined several inter-faith social action projects including food banks.
One subject that could not be avoided in the interview was of course the scandal of abuse within the Catholic Church.
A report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in 2020 criticised the cardinal for the way historic sexual abuse allegations were handled under him.
He acknowledged that the church “made plenty of mistakes”, but that it did not put itself before individuals.
“The biggest dilemma for me, and I know it goes back further than me, is when a priest sits down in front of me and says, ‘No, I did not,’ …. every fibre in me wants to believe it,” he said.
“Now that might… [come across as] a reluctance to believe the evidence that was being presented to us. But that was not a desire to defend the church. It was a difficulty of getting to the actual true account of what had happened with all its horror.”
When asked about the Pope’s recent comment to the LGBT community that “God does not disown any of his children,” the cardinal said: “When it comes to changing understanding and perceptions and acceptability of a diverse range of sexual orientations and indeed of actions, then I think we’re on the way.”
The cardinal told the festival that, as per tradition, he offered his resignation to Rome shortly before his 75th birthday.
Now 76, he recalled being asked by the apostolic nuncio how he was doing and told to remain in post when he replied that he was well.
“He said ‘You stay until you’re told you can go’. Obedience is our basic standpoint so I will do as I’m told,” he said.
The festival was held at the JW3 centre in north London – where it last ran in 2019. Besides causing huge disruption, Covid-19 has had a significant spiritual impact, the cardinal said.
“Many people have found a kind of emptiness or kind of question mark, deep down in their personality, in their psyche, in their consciousness.”
Subsequently some have turned to religion for answers.. “We’ve coined the phrase ‘the covid curious’,” after the pandemic “awakened a sense of inadequacy, a sense of incompleteness”.
“We began to realise that individualism is not the true nature of the human person.”
The role of religion, he said, is “to keep the rumour of God alive”.
That message can be conveyed by journalists, he acknowledged, though the church and media have different interests. .
“It’s quite fair to attract attention … to tell the stories … to draw the contrasts … to show where conflicts lie. But often the story of living faith is not the story of conflict. It’s not a story of drama. It’s a story of quiet faithfulness.”
Responding to the recent government white paper on broadcasting which could lead to reduced religious programming by public service broadcasters, ahe said he hoped the BBC “stayed faithful” to its “deeper mandate”.
