The concept of the “shared responsibility” of bishops, introduced by Vatican Council II, is still very far from being put into practice, maintains Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, in his new book “At the heart of the world”. It’s the first book he has written since becoming (four years ago) Catholic Primate of England and Wales and leader of five million English Catholics. According to the cardinal, the Catholic Church is still immature in the exercise of her authority. She also lacks openness and transparency. As regards Christian unity, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor writes that the Catholic Church has the responsibility to put her ecumenical house in order while pursuing the path of institutional unity with the other Christian churches. “Have sufficient preparations been made to ensure consultation between the Pope and the local Churches before important decisions are taken at the international or local level?”, asks the cardinal, though he admits that some changes introduced by Vatican II were perhaps too precipitate. “The changes were not always transmitted in a positive and advantageous way he writes -. Many were deeply wounded, not least priests, who were told they should celebrate mass looking the faithful in the face and celebrating the liturgy in the native language”. In his book the Catholic Primate of England and Wales also tackles the problem of the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults, maintaining that the Catholic Church has failed to come to grips with this problem in an adequate way.
