Cardinal Vincent Gerard Nichols, Metropolitan Archbishop of Westminster (Great Britain), was born in Crosby in the Archdiocese of Liverpool on November 8, 1945 by Henry Joseph and Mary Russell. After attending the primary schools of Saint Peter and Paul parish and Saint Mary’s College in the native town of Lancashire, in 1963, he moved to Rome, in the Venerable English College, to begin the formation of the priesthood.

In Rome, he was ordained a priest on November 21, 1969.

He also studies at the Gregorian Pontifical University, obtaining his theology license at the University of Manchester, where he obtained a master’s thesis on St. John Fisher bishop of Rochester, and Loyola University in Chicago, United States.

Liverpool is at first leading a group of priests responsible for the pastoral care for the poor, then in 1979 he was appointed vice-chancellor of the archdiocese and, the following year, director of the Upholland Northern Institute, which deals with adult education and the formation of the clergy. In 1984 he was elected as general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and in 1989 became also moderator of the board of directors of the Council of Churches for Great Britain and Ireland. He covers both jobs until 1996.

Meanwhile, November 5, 1991, he was elected by John Paul II, bishop of Othona and auxiliary of Westminster, and received bishopric ordination on January 24, 1992 by Cardinal Archbishop Basil Hume, who entrusts the pastoral care of the northern area of ​​London.

Since 1994 he began to hold various positions at the National Bishops ‘Conference, especially in the financial and education departments, and is a member of the Joint Commission of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and of the European Protestant Church Conference who vice president of the Bible Society.

After the death of Cardinal Hume, on June 17, 1999, he is for some months an administrator of the archdiocese of Westminster.

On February 15, 2000, Pope Wojtyla promoted him to Metropolitan Archbishop of Birmingham, where he entered his march on March 29. The following year is in the direction of the Catholic Commission for the Protection of Minors from Clerical Abuses. Meanwhile he participates in several Synods of Bishops, including those for consecrated life (1994), Oceania (1998) – where he represents the European episcopacy – and for Europe (1999), of which he is a special secretary. In 2005 he commented on the BBC’s special broadcasts on the death of John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI. In 2008 he was appointed President of the Commission for Education and Catechesis of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE).

On April 3, 2009 Pope Ratzinger transferred him to Westminster, as successor to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. And soon after, April 30, he is elected president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. On May 21, the entrance to the cathedral of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In September 2010 he welcomed Benedict XVI’s pastoral visit to the United Kingdom, contributing decisively to the success of the international trip. After Pope Ratzinger instituted the personal ordination of Our Lady of Walsingham to welcome the faithful Catholics from Anglicanism, on January 15, 2011, he assigned the first priestly ordination to the three former Anglican bishops Keith Newton, Andrew Burnham and John Broadhurst. He is committed to maintaining good relations with Anglican Communion and adhering to common initiatives of prayer and solidarity together with archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and, since March 2013, with his successor Justin Welby. The leaders of other religions in London also find in him an always-minded and participatory interlocutor.

He attended the 3rd Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family (October 2014) and then the XIV General Ordinary General Assembly of 2015.

Patron of various charitable associations, including The Passage and The Cardinal Hume Center, has been awarded many academic awards.