PAPAL LETTER COMMEMORATES CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

VATICAN CITY, FEB 27, 2001 (VIS) - Made public this morning was a Letter from Pope John Paul to Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, England, on the occasion of the second centenary of the birth of Cardinal John Henry Newman. The letter, written in English, is dated February 22.

The Pope said he joined "the host of voices throughout the world in praising God for the gift of the great English cardinal and for his enduring witness ... He was born at a particular time - February 21, 1801, in a particular place - London, to a particular family. ... But the particular mission entrusted to him belongs to every time and place."

"Newman was born in troubled times," writes the Holy Father, when "old certitudes were shaken, and believers were faced with the threat of rationalism on the one hand and fideism on the other. Rationalism brought with it a rejection of both authority and transcendence, while fideism turned from the challenges of history and the tasks of this world to a distorted dependence upon authority and government. In such a world, Newman came eventually to a remarkable synthesis of faith and reason."

The Pope underscored how Newman's "search was shot through with pain" and trials, "but, rather than diminish or destroy him they paradoxically strengthened his faith in the God who had called him, and confirmed him in the conviction that God 'does nothing in vain'. In the end, therefore, what shines forth in Newman is the mystery of the Lord's Cross: This was the heart of his mission."

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