SIR – In your leading article on the dispute over the appointment of a new bishop of Ahiara, Nigeria (June 16), you describe the Pope’s freedom to appoint bishops without local interference as “a fundamental principle”. If so, it is a fundamental principle of very recent origin.
The traditional practice was the election of bishops by the clergy and people of the diocese, with the duly elected bishop then being recognised by the Pope. Rome only came to play a leading role thanks to the interference of secular rulers in this process.
You will be aware of Rosmini’s magisterial survey of the question in the first chapter of The Five Wounds of the Church (published in 1848, placed on the Index in 1849, and solemnly removed from the Index just before the Index was abolished in the wake of Vatican II). In 1849 Rosmini went on to devise a practical system for the election of bishops – no mean feat in the somewhat undemocratic atmosphere of the Italy of his time.
Yours faithfully,
Robert Nowell
New Barnet, Hertfordshire
SIR – Mary Kenny’s column is always stimulating, but I do not share her considered view (June 9) that religion should not be talked about at the dinner table (even though she allows that you might talk about it to your dining neighbour, presumably in a semi-whisper).
I can’t help feeling that the Tatler, whose advice she reproduces, is being oh-so-politically-correct, and is targeting Christianity in particular. What does it have to say about Muslims or atheists proclaiming their respective faiths at the table – would they not be much more likely to get away with it?
Moreover, convention used to hold that politics and religion were both subjects to be avoided at the dinner table, but what has the Tatler said about politics? Surely, right now, the fate of Theresa May is a subject that is not going to be avoided?
Mary Kenny means well in affirming that just being “kind, humane and morally decent” is the best way to proclaim one’s faith. But these qualities are manifested by “people of various faiths and none”, and it would perhaps be difficult to show that when manifested by Christians they testify to the uniqueness of the Christian faith.
Many Christians shy away from any open, verbal expression of their faith, but the teachings that make their faith distinctive, alive and relevant to our world need to be publicly affirmed, and I do not really see why dinner parties should be a no-go area.
Yours faithfully,
David Jowitt
University of Jos, Nigeria
SIR – Even if Islamist extremism had nothing to do with Western foreign policy, that policy needs to change as a matter of common humanity. We are bringing chaos and bloodshed to the world. In fact, there are deep-rooted links between Western governments and Islamist extremism, with unintended consequences which cannot be denied.
In 1921 Winston Churchill expressed his admiration for the Saudi leader Ibn Saud. He was the first monarch of Saudi Arabia and a follower of Wahhabi Islam. Churchill gave a speech in the House of Commons in 1921 in which he said that Ibn Saud’s followers “hold it as an article of duty, as well as of faith, to kill all who do not share their faith and to make slaves of their wives and children. Women have been put to death in Wahhabi villages for simply appearing in the streets … [they are] austere, intolerant, well-armed and bloodthirsty”. Yet he admired these people for their “unfailing loyalty” to the British Empire.
Today, apostasy is a crime punishable by death in Saudi Arabia; the last recorded execution was in 1992. Former US vice presidents Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden have both accused Saudi Arabia of supporting ISIS (which follows Wahhabi Islam). The Tory Party is widely suspected of covering up a report into foreign funding of extremist ideology because it implicates Saudi Arabia. Donald Trump, who not so long ago was loudly accusing Saudi Arabia of involvement in 9/11, is now praising the country after securing an arms deal worth about $100 billion.
It seems that Saudi Arabia, with its phenomenal oil wealth, can bribe or intimidate anyone, including America. France, Britain and America, with their allies, need to work together to stand up for the values they proclaim. There is a great need for a leader to begin a fundamental change of direction in Western relations with Saudi Arabia.
Yours faithfully,
Brendan O’Brien
London N21
SIR – This week’s issue of the popular science magazine New Scientist contains an editorial expressing concern at the Government’s expected deal with the supposedly anti-science DUP. It states: “The DUP’s antediluvian stances on the environment, abortion and evolution suggest they are unlikely to contribute much to evidence-based policymaking.”
Perhaps in the Britain of 2017 those who seek to defend the unborn ought not to be surprised at being called antediluvian. The implication, however, that to oppose abortion is to be anti-science is a lie that must be vigorously opposed.
All the evidence-based science I have seen strongly supports the Church’s position that human life begins at the moment of conception. In fact, the same issue of the New Scientist carried an article about a research team which has shown that unborn babies move their heads to follow lights arranged to resemble a human face, in exactly the same way as would a newborn.
Whether a human being in the womb deserves the same legal protection against violence as a human outside the womb is essentially a moral question. Science can certainly inform our judgment but cannot itself provide an answer.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Dominic Guly
Tintagel, Cornwall
SIR – The article in last week’s edition concerning receiving Holy Communion in the hand (report, June 16) was very disturbing. Yes, there are those who clearly have not been guided as to the reverent way of receiving the Body of Christ in the hand, but that does not detract from the immense spiritual experience of receiving the Body of our Lord in the grateful palm of our hand.
How else can we be led by the Lord if not by the hand? Is he to lead us by our tongue?
Yours faithfully,
Deacon Jeremy Oliver
Godalming, Surrey
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