Friend leads mourners

Cardinal O'Connor will lead the "celebrations"

The man who led the requiem mass for Cardinal Thomas Winning is an old friend of the former Scottish Catholic leader.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, was the principal celebrant during the mass at St Andrew's Cathedral, in Glasgow, on Monday.

The two men had known each other for many years and Cardinal Winning was in Rome in February when Archbishop O'Connor was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal O'Connor began training for the priesthood in 1950 at the Venerable English College, Rome.

Whilst at the college, he took a degree in philosophy and theology at the Gregorian University, Rome.

Work for Christian unity

He was ordained priest in Rome in 1956.

He played a part in the preparatory stages of the first National Conference of Priests and was appointed parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Portswood, Southampton.

His term as parish priest was brief and the Holy See appointed him Rector of the English College, Rome, giving him the responsibility for the training of students for the priesthood.

He was then ordained Bishop of Arundel and Brighton in 1977.

In 2000 he was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity by the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, in recognition of all his work for Christian unity.

He was installed as tenth Archbishop of Westminster in 2000 and was elected President of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

Among his personal hobbies and interests are music and sport, and his book 'The Family of the Church' was published in 1984.