William Godfrey

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people named William Godfrey, see William Godfrey (disambiguation).

Roman Catholic
ParentsGeorge and Mary Godfrey
Previous post(s)
  • Titular Archbishop of Cius (1938-1953)
  • Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain (1938-1953)
  • Official to Poland (1943-1953)
  • Archbishop of Liverpool (1953–1956)
Coat of arms

William Godfrey (1889–1963) was an English

cardinalate in 1958.[1]

Biography

William Godfrey was born in

coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
.

On 21 November 1938, Mgr Godfrey was appointed

episcopal consecration on the following 21 December, in the chapel of the English College from Cardinal Raffaele Rossi, OCD, with Archbishop Luigi Traglia and Bishop Ralph Hayes serving as co-consecrators. He was also chargé d'affaires of the Holy See to the Polish government-in-exile in London in 1943. He left these diplomatic posts on 10 November 1953 when he was made Archbishop of Liverpool
.

Pope Pius XII appointed Godfrey Archbishop of Westminster, and thus the ranking prelate of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, on 3 December 1956. During his installation, Godfrey condemned Communism and professed his mission as bringing England "back to the love of Christ".[3] He was vehemently opposed to birth control.[5] At one point in his tenure, he caused some mirth by calling for English Catholics to feed their pets less during Lent.[6]

Archbishop Godfrey was created

Cardinal-Priest by Pope John XXIII in the consistory of 15 December 1958 and was assigned the title of Ss. Nereo ed Achilleo
.

Godfrey, who enjoyed the piano and sports,[3] lived long enough to attend only the first session of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. In January 1963, he died from a heart attack in London, at age 73.[5][7] He is buried in Westminster Cathedral. His likeness was sculpted by Arthur Fleischmann.

References

  1. ^ Miranda, Salvador. "William Godfrey". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  2. ^ TIME Magazine. The New Cardinals 22 December 1958
  3. ^ a b c TIME Magazine. New Archbishop 18 February 1957
  4. ^ TIME Magazine. Pope & Democracy 5 December 1938
  5. ^ a b TIME Magazine. Milestones 1 February 1963
  6. ^ TIME Magazine. Lent for Man & Beast 24 February 1961
  7. Newspapers.com. Open access icon

External links
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Archbishop of Liverpool
1953–1956 		Succeeded by
John Carmel Heenan
Preceded by Archbishop of Westminster
1956–1963
Preceded by
Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Nereo ed Achilleo

1958–1963 		Succeeded by
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