Former head of Catholics dies aged 85
FORMER Archbishop of Westminster Cormac Murphy-O’Connor died of cancer yesterday.
The 85-year-old Cardinal had been admitted to hospital last month.
Westminster Abbey said staff were “saddened” to hear of his death.
Mr Murphy-O’Connor became leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales in 2000. He retired in 2009.
Born on August 24, 1932, in Reading, Berks, he studied theology in Rome and was ordained in 1956.
He was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton from 1977, when priest Michael Hill was accused of child abuse.
Instead of calling police, he sent Father Hill to another post – a move he later branded “a mistake”.