Why Queen Elizabeth II Gave Cardinal an Invitation  Reinforces
Ecumenism and Promotes National Unity, Biographer Says  | 437
hits  LONDON, DEC. 12, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Queen Elizabeth II´s
historic invitation to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O´Connor to preach
at her residence in Sandringham is an obvious sign of a decisive
change in English society, the monarch´s best-known biographer
said.  In an interview Dec. 9 with the Italian newspaper
Avvenire, Ben Pimlott, rector of Goldsmiths College, said that
the Church of England is no longer perceived as England´s
religion, given the growth of Catholicism and other religions,
such as Islam.  However, historian Pimlott said, "it is not true
that Catholicism has replaced the Anglican Church."  Rather, he
said, "British society has become very secularized, more than in
the United States or other European countries, and religion is
increasingly less relevant in people´s lives."  He added: "The
majority of Englishmen still look, naturally, to the Church of
England as a moral