Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe (born 22 August 1945) is an English

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest who served as

Master of the Order of Preachers The Master of the Order of Preachers is the Superior General of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order, Dominicans. The Master of the Order of Preachers is ''ex officio'' Chancellor (education), Grand Chancellor of the Pont ...

from 1992 to 2001. He was created a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

in 2024. He is the only

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

of the Dominican Order's English Province to hold the office of Master-General. Radcliffe was previously director of the Las Casas Institute at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, promoting

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

Biography

Formation

Born in 1945 of aristocratic descent, the third of five sons to Lt-Col. Hugh Radcliffe (1911–1993) and Mariequita ''née'' Pereira (1916–2005), he is in

remainder In mathematics, the remainder is the amount "left over" after performing some computation. In arithmetic, the remainder is the integer "left over" after dividing one integer by another to produce an integer quotient ( integer division). In a ...

to the Radcliffe baronetcy.'' Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 3247 His cousin, Sir Sebastian Radcliffe, 7th and present baronet, lives at the Château de Cheseaux in Switzerland and his eldest brother, Mark Radcliffe (born 1938), was High Sheriff of Hampshire for 1996/97. After attending Worth Preparatory School (

Worth School Worth School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private co-educational Roman Catholic boarding school, boarding and day school, day school for pupils from 11 to 18 years of age near Worth, West Sussex, Worth, West Sussex, England. Unti ...

) in Sussex and

Downside School Downside School (formally The College of St Gregory the Great, Downside but simply referred to as Downside) is an 11–18 mixed, Roman Catholic, independent, day and boarding school in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, England. It was establish ...

in Somerset, Radcliffe went up to read Theology at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

, graduating MA (elected Honorary Fellow, 1993). Then he entered the Dominican Order in 1965 and was ordained a priest in 1971.

Career

During the mid-1970s, Radcliffe was based at the West London Catholic Chaplaincy. A

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

then

Prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

of Blackfriars, he taught scriptures at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and was elected Prior Provincial of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1988. In 1992, he was elected Master of the Dominican Order, holding that office until 2001. During his tenure as Master, Radcliffe served as ''ex-officio'' Grand Chancellor of the

Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (PUST), also known as the ''Angelicum'' or ''Collegio Angelico'' (in honor of its patron, the ''Doctor Angelicus'' Thomas Aquinas), is a pontifical university located in the historic center of R ...

in Rome. In 2001, after the expiration of his term as Master, Radcliffe took a sabbatical year, before in 2002, again serving as a simple member of the Dominican community in

. After serving for several years on the advisory board of the Las Casas Institute, which "critical reflection on questions of human dignity in the light of Catholic social teaching and theology", he was appointed the Institute's director in April 2014. His term as director ended after two years and he continued thereafter as a member of its advisory board. Radcliffe continued preaching and public speaking internationally. In 2015, Radcliffe was named a Consultor to the

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (''Justitia et Pax'') was a pontifical council of the Roman Curia dedicated to "action-oriented studies" for the international promotion of justice, peace, and human rights from the perspective of the ...

. Although not a topic Radcliffe has often written on in his numerous publications, he has publicly defended Catholic teaching on

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

: Radcliffe is a

Patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of Positive Faith, the main ministry of Catholic AIDS Prevention and Support, sits on the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament, and is a Patron of Embrace the Middle East. In January 2023,

named Radcliffe to lead a three-day preparatory retreat for participants in the Synod on Synodality in October 2023. He returned to deliver the preparatory retreat for the October 2024 part of the same

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

Cardinalate

On 6 October 2024, the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

announced that Radcliffe would be created a

on 8 December, with the date of his installation by

the Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of sta ...

at St Peter's Basilica later being updated to 7 December. Pope Francis granted him a rare dispensation from the requirement that all cardinals must be bishops, and on 7 December 2024 created Radcliffe a Cardinal, designating him as a member of the Order of Cardinal Deacons and assigning to him the deaconry of Chiesa dei Santi Nomi di Gesù e Maria. At the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

Radcliffe wore his Dominican white habit rather than a Cardinal's red robes, returning to the tradition that a member of an

Order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

who becomes a Cardinal does not change his

dress A dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a one-piece outer garment that is worn on the torso, hangs down over the legs, and is primarily worn by women or girls. Dresses often consist of a bodice attached to a skirt. Dress shapes, silh ...

. He participated as a cardinal elector in the

2025 papal conclave A conclave was held on 7 and 8 May 2025 to elect a new pope to succeed Pope Francis, Francis, who had died on 21 April 2025. Of the 135 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2025 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. Cardinal Piet ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIV Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) has been head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America, the fir ...

Honours

In 2003,

awarded Radcliffe an honorary

doctorate of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (i.e., Christian theology and ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the English-speaking world than elsewhere. In the United Kin ...

, with the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

( Rt Hon. Christopher Patten) citing the following: Radcliffe received the 2007 Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing for his book ''What Is the Point of Being A Christian?'' An Honorary Doctor of Philosophy of Providence College Rhode Island, Radcliffe also received in 2024 the degree of Hon. DD from

Liverpool Hope University Liverpool Hope University (abbreviated LHU) is a public university with campuses in Liverpool, England. ‌The university grew out of three Normal school#United Kingdom, teacher training colleges: Saint Katharine's College (originally Warring ...

.www.hope.ac.uk
/ref>

Bibliography

Books

* ''Sing a New Song. The Christian Vocation''. Dublin: Dominican Publications, 1999. * ''I Call You Friends''. London: Continuum, 2001. * ''Seven Last Words''. London: Burns & Oates, 2004. * ''What Is the Point of Being A Christian?'' London and New York: Burns & Oates, 2005. * ''Just One Year: Prayer and Worship through the Christian Year'', edited by Timothy Radcliffe with Jean Harrison. London: Darton, Longman & Todd for

CAFOD The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, commonly known as CAFOD, is an international development and relief charity. It is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. CAFOD is part of the global Caritas Internat ...

and

Christian Aid Christian Aid is a relief and development charity of 41 Christian (Protestant and Orthodox) churches in Great Britain and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster rel ...

, 2006. * ''Why Go to Church? The Drama of the Eucharist''. London: Continuum, 2008. .

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

book 2009 * ''Christians and Sexuality in the Time of AIDS'', with Lytta Bassett. London: Continuum. * ''Take the Plunge: Living Baptism and Confirmation''. London: Burns & Oates, 2012. * ''The Hope that is Within You'': interviewed by Raymond Friel. Redemptorist Publications. April 2016. * ''Alive in God: A Christian Imagination''. London: Bloomsbury Continuum 2019

Articles

Letters to the Order

* Vowed to Mission (1994) * The Wellspring of Hope. Study and the Annunciation of the Good News (1996) * The Identity of Religious Today (1996) * Dominican Freedom and Responsibility. Towards a Spirituality of Government (1997) * The Bear and the Nun : What is the Sense of Religious Life Today! (1998) * The Promise of Life (1998) * The Rosary (1998) * Letter to our Brothers and Sisters in Initial Formation (1999) * To Praise, to Bless, to Preach. The Mission of the Dominican Family (2000) * The Throne of God (2000) * St Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), Patroness of Europe (2000) * The Parable of the Good Samaritan (2001) * A City set on a hilltop cannot be hidden: A Contemplative Life (2001) * Mission to a Runaway World: Future Citizens of the Kingdom (2002).

References

Notes

External links

A selection of Radcliffe's sermons

written by Radcliffe as Master of the Dominican Order between 1993 and 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Radcliffe, Timothy 1945 births Living people 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests 21st-century English Roman Catholic priests People educated at Downside School Academics of the University of Oxford Roman Catholic clergy from London English Dominicans Fellows of Blackfriars, Oxford Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Masters of the Order of Preachers New Blackfriars people Cardinals created by Pope Francis 21st-century British cardinals T