Vincent Nichols to be Archbishop of Westminster

There are good and bad things to say about Archbishop Nichols.

As Chairman of the Catholic Education Service, and in his own diocese, he has been pushing sex education in Catholic schools, which is completly at odds with the teaching of the Church. He has been persistent in this, even when making noises indicating his opposition to the 'sexualisation of children'. The CES has also 'welcomed' the 'Connexions' service into Catholic schools, where they can dish out contraception and arrange abortions. His policies have been loudly condemned by John Smeaton of SPUC and the National Association of Catholic Families. The redoubtabable Jackie Parkes is none too pleased with him over this as well.

He nurtures a long-standing arrangement in which Quest, the dissenting homosexual group, has a special Mass in a church in Birmingham, St Catherine of Siena, Bristol Road.

He made a bit of fool of himself over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill when he said that embryos were of 'less value' than adults, in an interview.

Most recently, he not only allowed but defended the decision to allow a celebration of Mohammed's birthday in the chapel of a Catholic university in Birmingham.

On the plus side, he opposed the Sexual Orientation Regulations, earning a runner-up position in the 'Bigot of the Year' award organised by the militant homosexual group Stonewall. When the Government proposed allowing two women to be 'mother' to an adopted child, and even to go onto the birth certificate as 'mother', he again put his head above the parapet.

He is clearly not a coward, and although he has handed Catholic schools over to the Government birth control agenda he has resisted other attacks. Either he sincerely thinks that, while the gay lifestyle can properly be promoted through special Masses and in schools, gays should not be allowed to adopt children, or else he thinks he is being clever by picking his battles.