Archbishop Vincent Nichols at his ceremony of installation as Archbishop of Westminster said, “Let us be a society in which we genuinely listen to each other, in which sincere disagreement is not made out to be insult or harassment, in which reasoned principles are not constructed as predjudice and in which we are prepared to attribute to each other the best and not the worst of motives.”

There was a very similar call for openness in President Obama’s address to the “class of ‘09” in his speech accepting an honourary doctorate from Notre Dame University in Indiana.

Archbishop Nichols’ words might be construed as calling for the Catholic Church to be given a fair hearing, whereas President Obama was implicitly addressing his critics within the Catholic Church in America who condemn him as pro-abortion (and therefore condemn Notre Dame for honouring him).

Archbishop Nichols goes on to say “in these matters, we ourselves in the Churches have so much to learn and to do.”