Mayur Pahilajani - AHN News Writer
London, United Kingdom (AHN) - Britain's Former Prime Minister Tony Blair converted to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism on Saturday.
His family, including his wife and children, were already Catholic.
The 54-year-old politician was received into the Roman Catholic Church during a ceremony on Friday in central London during Mass in the chapel at Archbishop's House, Westminster.
According to reports, Catholic Church Cardinal Murphy O'Conner, Archbishop of Westminster, who led the service on Friday, expressed his happiness to welcome the former British prime minister.
"For a long time he has been a regular worshipper at Mass with his family and in recent months he has been following a program of formation to prepare for his reception into full communion," Cardinal O'Conner said.
There were some speculations about his conversion before he left the office as prime minister on June 27.
His intentions to adopt Catholicism were clear during his tenure as England's Prime Minister and before his termed ended, Blair visited Vatican in June where he met Pope Benedict XVI.
However, according to the Times Online, there were fears among his advisors that he might be publicly identified as a devout Christian.
His former press secretary Alastair Campbell once famously said: "We don't do God."
Blair has been receiving doctrinal and spiritual preparation from Monsignor Mark O'Toole, the private secretary of Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, according to BBC.
"My prayers are with him, his wife and family at this joyful moment in their journey of faith together," Cardinal O'Conner added.
Tony Blair
El viernes, en una misa en la casa del reverendo Padre Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, cardenal y arzobispo de la Arquidiócesis de Westminster, Tony Blair, antiguo Primer Ministro del Reino Unido, dejó la Iglesia anglicana para unirse en comunión a la Iglesia Católica de Gran Bretaña.

Su familia, incluyendo a su esposa y sus cuatro hijos, ya eran católicos practicantes.

El cardenal dijo: 

Federico Lombardi, representante de prensa oficial del Vaticano, dijo que la Santa Sede también está "satisfecha" con la conversión de Blair. "''Que la opción de unirse a la Iglesia católica sea hecha por una personalidad tan competente sólo puede causar alegría y respeto''", añadió.

Rowan Williams, actual Arzobispo de Canterbury y primado de la Comunión Anglicana, le deseo una buena jornada espiritual a Blair, diciendo: "''Tony Blair tiene mis oraciones y mejores deseos al tomar este paso en su peregrinación cristiana''".

Catherine Pepinster, editora de la revista católica ''The Tablet'', dijo que Blair no se convirtió mientras era primer ministro porque estaba haciendo negociaciones de paz con Irlanda del Norte y mucha gente allí se hubiera sentido incómoda si el primer ministro se hubiera convertido en ese momento.

Ann Widdecombe, una católica y política del Partido Conservador del Reino Unido, no estuvo tan feliz. Dijo: ''Si miras al récord de votación de Tony Blair en la Cámara de los Comunes, ha ido en contra de las enseñanzas de la Iglesia en más de una ocasión. En cosas como, por ejemplo, el aborto. Mi pregunta sería: ''«¿Ha cambiado su pensar sobre eso?»".

Tony Blair renunció a su puesto como primer ministro el 27 de julio de este año y ahora es un "enviado para la paz" al Oriente Medio, representando a la Unión Europea, los Estados Unidos, Rusia y las Naciones Unidas.