The Catholic Weekly 18 September 2022

catholicweekly.com.au QUEEN ELIZABETH II - MODE PIUS XI 6 FEB 1922-10 FEB 1939 He canonised Sts Thomas More, Peter Canisius, Bernadette of Lourdes and Don Bosco. He beatified and canonised Thérèse de Lisieux. He spoke out against Hitler and Mussolini, and defend- ed the Catholic Church from intrusions into Catholic life and education. He also promoted the lay vocation through the Catholic Action movement. He wrote three encyclicals against totalitarian systems. 2 MAR 1939-9 OCT 1958 He defined the dog- ma of the Assump- tion of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Credited with intervening for peace during World War II, he has nevertheless been labelled “Hitler’s Pope” for reportedly staying silent on the fate of the Jews. But he was remembered throughout the world as the leader who had condemned Nazism and inspired huge rescue efforts. Princess Elizabeth met him in 1951. 28 OCT 1958-3 JUN 1963 The Italian pontiff known as “Good Pope John”, St John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council in October 1962. That same year he intervened for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the following year wrote the Encycli- cal Pacem in terris on peace and nuclear disarmament. Queen Elizabeth met him in 1961 and he was canonised in 2014 by Pope Francis. 21 JUN 1963-6 AUG 1978 The saintly Pope was the first since 1809 to travel be- yond Italy. He closed the Second Vatican Council and wrote seven encyclicals including the era-de- fining encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968) which reaffirmed the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage and the responsi- ble transmission of human life. He revised the Roman Missal (1969) and in 1970 was the first pope to visit Australia. PIUS XII JOHN XXIII PAUL VI A REMARKABLE LIFE AND REIGN: MONARCH’S LIFE SAWTHEMINISTRIES OF E Q ueen Elizabeth II is being hailed as a woman of great per- sonal Christian faith who achieved more in advanc- ing ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue than any previous English monarch of the United Kingdom. The Queen was known for her strong faith, which includ- ed regular prayer, Bible reading and weekly church attendance and she would often draw upon her faith in her annual Christ- masmessage, broadcast around the world. In one Christmas message to mark the new Millennium in 2000, the Queen reflected on the extent to which her faith guided her life: “For me, the teachings of Christ andmy own personal ac- countability before God provid- ed a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ’s words and example”. A strong admirer of Queen Elizabeth II, Professor Hayden Ramsay, Deputy Vice Chan- cellor (Ethics) at the Australian Catholic University (ACU), said he has many fond memories as a young man seeing the Queen welcome Pope John Paul II to Britain in 1982 on what was the first such visit of a pontiff to Britain after centuries of sectar- ian division. Later in her reign, the Queen hostedPopeBenedict XVI’s visit to Britain in 2010 and began in- viting many faith leaders to the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. “The Queen was really al- most a miraculous bridge builder in the area of faith”, Pro- fessor Ramsay told The Catholic Weekly . “And to see a Head of State, that as people bow their head to her, she in turn bows her head to Jesus Christ, that is sadly be- A life of service and faith Vale Queen Elizabeth II: A Bridge Builder between faiths coming increasingly riskier for public figures to do in a secular society. Yet in her Christmas messages, broadcast year after year, the Queen became more confessional and also more genuinely emotional about her love for the Gospel”. Although a committed Re- publican, Emeritus Professor Greg Craven, the former Vice Chancellor of ACU, said he has a great deal of personal affec- tion and admiration for Queen Elizabeth II. “I think the Queen was determinedly interfaith and brought themonarchy frombe- ing a purelyAnglican institution to being an institution that was genuinely aligned with the di- versity of faith within the Com- monwealth and one of those faiths from the Queen’s point of view was Catholicism”, Profes- sor Craven said. Queen Elizabeth II forged personal friendships with a number of Catholic leaders in Britain including Cardinals Basil Hume and Cormac Mur- phy O’Connor, both former Archbishops of Westminster. And in a highly symbol- ic gesture in 1995, the Queen attended a Catholic Vespers in Westminister Cathedral to mark its 100th anniversary. Monsignor Carl Reid was raised in the Anglican faith be- fore going on to join the Person- al Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross which was erected by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. This personal ordinar- iate was originally erected for former Anglicans who wished to become Catholics but Pope Francis has now broadened its scope to allow for any and all who wish to come into full communion with the Catholic Church. Mons Reid believes Queen Elizabeth II will long be ad- mired for her grace, her humil- ity and her outreach to other Christian denominations and people of other faiths. “Her attendance at Catholic Vespers at Westminister Cathe- dral was a powerful demonstra- tion that she very much knew her history, that after all, the Church of England originated from the Catholic Church”, he explained. “So you can nev- er bury those ties completely. She knew that and so that was a deeply significant ecumeni- cal gesture on her part”. Queen Elizabeth II’s deep personal commitment to ecumenism and interfaith relations was also reflected in a speech to faith leaders in Britain in 2012 in which she emphasised that the Church of England’s role was not to “defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions”, but that it has a “duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in Britain”. Professor Hayden Ramsay from ACU said the Queen has very much put this message into action. “When you think of some of her landmark visits to Russia and to the Middle East, visits to almost every country in the worldand the respect paid to lo- cal faiths- the temples, shrines, mosques and churches of the local people- that was some- By Michael Kenny