‘We Christians need more persecution’

In Westminster Cathedral a dozen or so deaf mutes are doing the Stations of the Cross. They have reached the 14th station, ‘Jesus is laid in the tomb’. A priest leads the prayers in sign language. ‘We, too, O God, will descend into the grave whenever it shall please Thee, as it shall please Thee, and wheresoever it shall please Thee.’

It is a humbling sight. The cathedral, though, is not to everyone’s taste. Many visitors are unhappy about the stations themselves, which were carved by the sex maniac Eric Gill. Others are distressed by the children’s paintings and Third World displays that appear from time to time in side chapels. Yet the cathedral is authentically Catholic. It is a house of the poor, for those who are not being cared for in the community. Tramps slumber in its pews. Holy women say the rosary or silently mouth prayers from ancient missals. There is usually a queue for confession.

I am here to see the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, leader of the four million Catholics of England and Wales, and I am a bit jumpy. The last time I paid an official visit to this place, to see the late Cardinal Heenan, my minder gave me strict instructions not to kiss the episcopal ring. On this occasion I am wondering whether I dare seize the Cardinal’s right hand and sink to one knee. I decide against it, however. Exchanging the sign of peace is one thing; kissing a bishop quite another.

The Cardinal’s office is in Archbishop’s House, at the back of the cathedral. It is homey. On a coffee table there are piles of books, among them Sacred Causes by Michael Burleigh and (at the other end of the political spectrum almost) In His Own Words: From Freedom to the Future by Nelson Mandela.