Witness of Christ's Presence in London

Photo: londonse1 community website

My home archdiocese's website carries news of a wonderful procession of the Blessed Sacrament from Westminster Cathedral to St George's Cathedral Southwark to commemorate the first anniversary of Pope Benedict's visit to the UK and the beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman. Here is the post in full (quoted in full since it is not possible to provide a link to the post itself).

On Saturday, 1st October 2011, nearly a thousand people, following the processional cross, accompanied the Blessed Sacrament in procession from Westminster Cathedral to St George's Cathedral, Southwark. The Blessed Sacrament Procession marked the first anniversary of the beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman and the Holy Father's visit to Britain. It was a walk to witness to the reality of the presence of Christ in London.

Biishop Alan Hopes, Auxiliary Bishop in Westminster, carried the Blessed Sacrament and gave Benediction at St George's Cathedral.

During the procession pilgrims sang hymns and prayed the Rosary

It took nearly fifteen minutes for the procession to enter the Cathedral

These two cathedrals are thought to be the closest Catholic cathedrals in the world. They are just 1.31 miles apart as the crow flies. And, strangely, although the Southwark diocese is south of the Thames and the Westminster diocese is north of the Thames, St George's Cathedral is further north than Westminster Cathedral due to a bend in the river.

More photos on the RCSouthwark Flickr page