Cardinal beatified by Pope ‘scandalised Victorian England’

CARDINAL Newman, who is beatified yesterday by Pope Benedict XVI, scandalised Victorian England when he converted from the Church of England to Catholicism, drawing condemnation from many parts of British society.

The 19th-century clergyman was a famous Anglican preacher and a prominent thinker who had spent years as a fellow of Oriel College Oxford and vicar of the University Church when he became a Roman Catholic in 1845.

The decision to convert was highly controversial at the time as theRoman Catholic Church had onlyrecently been liberated from penal laws and was few in numbers andeducational opportunities.