The history and future of the Catholic Church in England and Wales are expected to be key themes of a public lecture to be delivered by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor at Westminster Cathedral, Victoria, London SW1 on Thursday 26 February at 7pm. Admission to the lecture is free and all are welcome to attend.

The lecture, entitled ‘Gaudium et Spes – Joy and Hope.  The Shape of the Church: Past, Present and to Come… ’ takes part of its title from the opening words of the Second Vatican Council’s document, ‘Gaudium et Spes, The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World’, (December 1965), which is the Cardinal’s heraldic motto. In the lecture, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who is the 10th Archbishop of Westminster, is also expected to reflect on  the challenges faced by his previous incumbents.