Archbishop John Foley

Archbishop John Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, was a friend of Pope John Paul II.

“I think what was new for many people in England, Wales and Scotland was the presence of the universal pastor of the Catholic Church, how accessible he was, how prayerful he was…here you had a man who was a prayerful, reflective, dynamic Christian leader and I think that helped to melt people’s hearts”

Click here to listen to Archbishop Foley on the Papal visit to Britain

Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ


Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ is an eminent Jesuit theologian and author. He is Professor Emeritus of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Fr Gerald was asked to put together a book on the papacy: “What Peter does for the Church” to mark the Pope’s visit to Britain.

He remembers Pope John Paul’s attention to detail ahead of the visit:

“There was a bishop called Agnellus Andrew who was a great man of the media. Pope John Paul II invited him to work for him in Rome in communications, and also before the visit to the United Kingdom to tell him about the UK. So Agnellus Andrew filled him in about the UK and then a day or two before the Pope was due to leave, there was a phone call to Agnellus Andrew from the Pope saying: ‘Well you told me that Shakespeare was their greatest poet, there’s no Shakespeare in my speeches…where should I quote Shakespeare and what should I quote?’ So Agnellus looked at the places where the Pope was to speak and said: ‘Coventry…that’s the closest to Stratford on Avon. What you should quote? Give me a couple of hours’, and he gave him that lovely speech from the Merchant of Venice – ‘the quality of mercy is not strain, it dropeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath’ – Portia’s speech. And that really chimed in with the Encyclical of the Pope that had come out shortly before: Rich in Mercy.”

Click here to listen to Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ on the Papal visit to Britain

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