Blair Formally Converts to Catholicism

In Joining Wife's Faith, Former Premier Is Britain's First to Leave State Church

LONDON, Dec. 22 -- Former prime minister Tony Blair has left the Church of England, becoming the first Briton to have served as premier to convert to Roman Catholicism.

The long-anticipated switch to the religion of his wife and four children was made at a service Friday night presided over by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Blair's conversion, while not particularly controversial in an increasingly diverse nation -- especially since he is no longer in power -- stood out because of the historically close ties between the British government and the Anglican Church.

The British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is the official head of the Church of England, and the prime minister advises her in the appointments of archbishops, bishops and other top church officials.

At the same time, religion rarely enters British political debate in the way it does in the United States. British politicians almost never invoke their religious beliefs, especially not when it comes to making public policy.

Blair's acerbic former press secretary, Alastair Campbell, once famously remarked, "We don't do God." Although he later amended that to note that Blair "does do God in quite a big way," British politicians generally fear that framing political issues in religious terms would be disastrous among voters.

During his 10 years in office, Blair was more public about his faith than any previous premier. While he once denied, in response to a reporter's question, that he and President Bush "prayed together," Blair was far more open than his predecessors about portraying his decisions, particularly in foreign policy, in moral terms.

Last year Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, told an interviewer that he had prayed while deciding whether to send troops into Iraq.

"In the end, there is a judgment that, I think if you have faith about these things, you realize that judgment is made by other people . . . and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well," he said.

Still, Blair said he was careful to avoid overt discussions of religion while in office. He told the BBC earlier this year that he feared doing so would have caused Britons to think of him as a "nutter."

His Catholic sentiments have been widely known for years, and he was widely reported to have attended Mass with his wife, Cherie Blair, for at least a decade. In June, during one of his last trips as prime minister, he had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

Perhaps Blair's most acclaimed achievement as prime minister was his role in brokering a peace agreement in Northern Ireland between rival Protestants and Catholics.

Blair's conversion was met with statements of warm support from both Murphy-O'Connor and Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Anglican Church, who said Blair had his "prayers and good wishes as he takes this step in his Christian pilgrimage."

Some critics on Saturday wondered whether Blair would renounce his positions on issues such as abortion. Like the vast majority of British politicians, Blair as prime minister broadly supported laws that allow British women to have abortions.

Blair's office confirmed his conversion to Catholicism but had no further comment, calling it a private matter.