Sep 16, 2011 / 13:08 pm
“Pope Benedict XVI came, saw and conquered,” Cardinal Keith P. O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh said on the first anniversary of the papal visit to the U.K.
“That call must echo in our own minds as we go forward evermore confidently living the Christian message in our country and endeavoring to hand on the love of Jesus Christ as effectively as we can to the other peoples in Scotland, and indeed throughout the world,” Cardinal O’Brien told CNA on Sept. 16.
Despite prior predictions of doom and disinterest, Pope Benedict’s visit to Scotland and England is now widely accepted as one of the high points of his six-year pontificate.
It began in Edinburgh, Scotland where he was cheered through the capital’s historic streets by a crowd of 125,000 and concluded four days later in Birmingham, England with the beatification of the 19th century Anglican convert Cardinal John Henry Newman.
Cardinal O’Brien said his own happiest memories stemmed from the first day of the visit when he accompanied Pope Benedict to his meeting with Queen Elizabeth at Holyroodhouse.
“It was with pride that we witnessed Her Majesty the Queen and His Holiness the Pope speaking in the most friendliest of terms of their respective views of our country and the necessary place of religious in our society,” he said.