The Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales recently celebrated the 150th anniversary of the restoration of the hierarchy. The Roman Catholic church had been outlawed since the Reformation, but with the passing of legislation to allow catholic emancipation, Pope Pius IX established thirteen dioceses in England and Wales.

In a message sent to the bishops, the current Pope, John Paul II, welcomed the celebration, praying that it would give "further impetus to the search for an ever more real and visible unity among all Christians in your lands."

His Holiness recalled how his predecessor, Pope Gregory the Great, had sent Augustine to "seek in Britain brothers whom we have not known" and how "the mission of the first Archbishop of Canterbury yielded a rich harvest of Christian life" in the hearts of the English and the Welsh. "It gave rise to a Christian people remarkably gifted down the centuries with saintly men and women who spread the faith through their missionary activity, and built a civilisation renowned for its learning and law, its literary and artistic heritage."

At the Mass in Westminster Cathedral on 4th May 2000, the Pope's Special Envoy, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, presented each of the bishops of England and Wales with a copy of the Bible and a letter from the Pope, in which His Holiness wrote:

"Now in this year of the Great Jubilee, as you celebrate the 150th anniversary of the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy of England and Wales, I . . . place in your hands and in your hearts the Holy Book. May your preaching of Christ, who is 'the same yesterday, today and for ever' (Hebrews 13:8), bear as rich a harvest in the lives of your people as did the preaching of Saint Augustine of Canterbury."