Your Holiness, we welcome you, leader of a great faith, to this gathering of many faiths,

in a land where once battles were fought in the name of faith and where now we share friendship across faith.

That is a climate change worth celebrating. And we recognize the immense

role the Vatican has played and continues to play in bringing it about. It was Nostra

Aitate 45 years ago that brought about the single greatest transformation in interfaith relations

in recent history. And we recognize your visit here today as a new chapter in that story

and a vital one. The secularization of Europe that began in the 17th century did not

happen because people lost faith in God. Newton and Descartes, the heroes of the Enlightenment,

believed in God very much indeed. What led to secularization was that people lost faith in the ability of people of

faith to live peaceably together. And we must never go down that road again. We remember the fine

words of John Henry, Cardinal Newman, we should ever conduct ourselves towards our

enemy as if he were one day to be our friend, as well as your holiness' own words, in

caritatus, in veritate, that the development of peoples depends on a recognition that the human race is a single family

working together in true communion, not simply a group of subjects who happen to live side by side.

We celebrate both our commonalities and our differences, because if we had nothing in common, we couldn't communicate. And if we had

everything in common, we'd have nothing to say. You, Your Holiness, have spoken of the Catholic

Church as a creative minority. And perhaps that's what we should all aspire to be. Creative minorities,

inspiring one another and bringing our different gifts to the common good. Britain has been so

enriched by its minorities, by every single group represented here today, and the intricate

harmonies of our several voices.

And one of our commonalities is that we surely believe that faith has a major role in strengthening civil society.

In the face of a deeply individualistic culture, we offer community.

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