Sacred Mysteries: Anglicans in the heart of Rome

From The Telegraph-

The English in Rome are taking a keen interest in the election of the next pope. It is not quite true, as most of the press have been complaining, that the United Kingdom is “unrepresented” in the forthcoming conclave.

The disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who is not attending the conclave, belongs to the Catholic hierarchy of Scotland, which is separate from that of England and Wales. So one can hardly speak of “Britain’s senior cleric”. But the Catholic bishops of Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom) belong to yet another hierarchy, which covers the island of Ireland.

Like the Church of England, in which there are the Primate of England (the Archbishop of York) and the Primate of All England (the Archbishop of Canterbury), so in the Church of Ireland there are the Primate of Ireland (the Archbishop of Dublin) and the Primate of All Ireland (the Archbishop of Armagh). The same distinction applies in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

So it happens that Armagh, the see of Cardinal Sean Brady, is in Northern Ireland. The Cardinal himself is Irish, but he is entitled to vote in national elections in Armagh, if he wishes. And he will be voting in the conclave, too. How this benefits the rest of the English-speaking United Kingdom, I have no idea.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9917972/Sacred-Mysteries-Anglicans-in-the-heart-of-Rome.html