Archbishop opts out of presidency

ARCHBISHOP Basil Hume of Westminster does not wish to be considered for the office of president of the forthcoming Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
In a statement issued yesterday by the Catholic Press Office, Archbishop Hume said he had two reasons for not wanting to be regarded as a candidate for the post at the Bishops' Low Week meeting, which begins on Monday.
He feels "that he is as yet unused to the procedures of the
Bishops' Conference at its meetings", and "believes that at present he needs to devote himself to the affairs of the Archdiocese of Westminster so recently entrusted to his care."
Until 10 years ago, the Archbishop of Westminster customarily became the lifelong president or Praeses Perpetuus on taking office.
In 1966, after the Second Vatican Council, the office was filled by an annual election, won every year since then by the then Archbishop of Westminster.
When his appointment in February was announced, he said, he would be willing to accept presidency, but might first wish to see someone else hold the position, because the next bishops' conference would be the first he had attended.
Archbishop Warlock of Liverpool, until recently Bishop of Portsmouth is secretary of the conference and is likely to retain his position.
The announcement of his successor in Portsmouth, and that of the bishop of the newly-created diocese of East Anglia, at present adminstered by Bishop Alan Clark, Auxiliary of Northampton, are still awaited from Rome.