Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Richard Moth as the new Archbishop of Westminster.
The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton succeeds Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, who has held the office since 2009 and who turned 80 in November.
Zambia-born Archbishop-elect Moth, 67, will be installed in Westminster Cathedral as the 12 archbishop on Saturday February 14 next year.
“I am moved greatly by the trust that Pope Leo has placed in me,” said Archbishop-elect Moth.
He said: “My first task will be to get to know the priests and people of Westminster and I look forward, now, to serving them.
“With them, and building on the firm foundations that have been laid by so many down the years, I look forward to continuing the great adventure that is the life of the Church and witness to the Gospel,” he added.
Cardinal Nichols said in the same press release that he was “delighted” by the appointment, saying his successor will bring “many gifts and considerable episcopal experience from his years of ministry”.
The Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, appealed for prayers for the archbishop-elect from the faithful of the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
Bishop Davies said: “I ask your prayers for Bishop Richard Moth as he accepts the call of Pope Leo to become the new Archbishop of Westminster.”
Archbishop-elect Moth was born in Chingola but brought up in Kent. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Southwark in July 1982.
He studied canon law at St Paul University, Ottawa, Canada, before moving back to south London to serve in parishes and also as chaplain the Territorial Army, the British military reservists.
He served as private secretary to Archbishop Michael Bowen of Southwark from 1992 until 2001, when he was also President of the Interdiocesan Tribunal of Second Instance of Southwark and the archdiocese vocations director. In 2001 he was appointed Vicar General and Chancellor of the Diocese.
The archbishop-elect was ordained Bishop of the Forces in 2009 in Westminster Cathedral and in the following six years came to public attention by criticising the failure of the Government to properly equip troops in Afghanistan and by warning Prime Minister David Cameron against attacking Libya.
Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Arundel and Brighton in 2015.
Bishop Moth became chair of the Department for Social Justice of the bishops’ conference and in that capacity was severely critical of reports of the rationing of healthcare during the early part of coronavirus event of 2020.
When it emerged that doctors had been issued with orders against attempting to resuscitate patients with learning disabilities, he denounced the policy as “wholly unacceptable and immoral”.
“It is shocking to hear that people with learning disabilities are being made the victims of such discrimination,” he said.
The archbishop-elect is also Chair of Governors at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, and the bishops’ liaison for prisons.
He has been an Oblate of the Benedictine Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland, for more than 40 years and is a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, making frequent trips to the Holy Land. He enjoys horse riding and walking.
(Photo © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk)