THE English theologian and former global Master of the Dominicans, Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, is to be created a cardinal by Pope Francis. Announced on Sunday as one of 21 new names from around the world, he will bring the total of English cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church to four — for what is believed to be the first time ever.
A widely regarded preacher and author, Fr Radcliffe has been a prominent figure in Vatican circles in recent years. He was appointed a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and led the retreat last year before the first Synod on Synodality in Rome. As Master of the Dominican Order from 1992 to 2001, he was also Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas. Since then, he has been based at Blackfriars in Oxford.
Born in London in 1945, he was educated at the Roman Catholic Downside School, in Somerset, and then at the University of Oxford. An enthusiast for the Second Vatican Council, he became a Dominican in 1965, and was ordained priest in 1971.
Speaking to the Church Times in 2019 (Features, 20 December 2019), Fr Radcliffe said: “The great important titles of Christianity are ‘Brother’ and ‘Sister’. Whether you are ‘Reverend’ or ‘Most Reverend’ or ‘Extremely Oily Reverend’, or whatever, these are the most important: Brother and Sister. . . I knew when I was Master of the Order, if I tried to be more than one of the brethren, it would be a disaster.”
The next consistory, at which the 21 new cardinals will be presented with their red birettas, will be on 8 December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, at St Peter’s, in Rome. This is also the date on which the second session of the Synod on Synodality ends, and the new “Jubilee of Hope” year begins.
Before Sunday’s news, Pope Francis had already named 92 of the men who may (if they survive him and are still eligible) vote for his successor. This new influx means that he will have appointed more cardinals than his last two predecessors did between them, although, once cardinals reach the age of 80 — as Fr Radcliffe will next August — they are no longer eligible to vote in the next conclave.