Former Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves Church of England

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who often kept his religious views private while serving as Britain's political leader, has converted to Catholicism, officials said Saturday, reports By Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service.

Blair, who had long been a member of the Church of England, converted to the Catholic faith during a Mass held on Friday night at a chapel in London, the Catholic Church said.

"It can be confirmed that Tony Blair has been received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor," the head of the church in England and Wales, the church said in a statement, according to Associated Press reporter Thomas Wagner.

"I'm very glad to welcome Tony Blair into the Catholic Church," the statement quoted Murphy-O'Connor as saying.

"For a long time he's been a regular worshipper at Mass with his family and in recent months he's been following a program of formation for his reception into full communion. Our prayers are with him, his family and his wife at this joyful moment in their journey of faith together," Murphy-O'Connor said.

Wagner writes there had long been speculation that Blair planned to convert to Catholicism. His wife, Cherie, is Roman Catholic, the couple's children have attended Catholic schools, and Blair had regularly attended Catholic, rather than Anglican, services.

Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in June.

The former prime minister told the BBC this year that he had avoided talking about his religious views while in office for about 10 years for fear of being labeled "a nutter."

The Pakistan-born Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, last month criticized the former Prime Minister, saying he was “sorry” that Blair felt unable to talk about his faith during his time in office.

A story written by Daniel Blake and posted on the www.christiantoday.com website said, “In the last episode of the BBC One series �?The Blair Years,’ the former Prime Minister said that his faith was a crucial component for him in taking the job of Prime Minister and was �?hugely important’ during his time in office.

“However, he also said on the program that unlike in the USA he felt unable to openly say so as �?you talk about it in our system and, frankly, people do think you're a nutter.’”

Blake said the remarks were made by Bishop Nazir-Ali who was quoted by the BBC as saying, “I am sorry that Tony Blair feels he could not talk about his faith in case people thought he was a nutter.

“A Christian vision underlies all that is important about Britain: its laws, institutions and values. If Blair had been able to relate this vision to his policies, we would have had more constructive social policy at home and principled policies abroad.”

Blake went onto say that Tony Blair’s former spokesman Alistair Campbell once famously told journalists, “We don’t do God.”

During the TV program, Campbell admitted to the BBC that Blair “does do God in quite a big way,” but that the two of them feared a negative public reaction to it. Campbell added that Blair always asked his aides to find a church for him to attend each Sunday wherever he happened to be in the world.

The AP reports that in England's last census, 72 percent of people identified themselves as Christian. Many are Anglicans affiliated with the Church of England, which was created by royal proclamation during the 16th century after King Henry VIII -- who married six times -- broke ties with the Roman Catholic Church in a dispute over divorce.

The Church of England has said that less than 10 percent of its members are regular churchgoers.

Britons often are surprised by people who openly and fervently discuss their religious views, and the degree to which faiths such as evangelicalism can influence U.S. politics.

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[01/03/2008]

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