Confirmed: New Archbishop of Westminister Vin Nichols

Ruth Gledhill gets the scoop {update: and it's confirmed.}

"As we report in The Times, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham will tomorrow, Friday, be announced as the new Archbishop of Westminster. There will be a press conference at 11am at Archbishop's House, Ambrosden Avenue when he will be named as successor to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, ending months of speculation.

Read all about 'Vin', as he is known, on the diocesan website. He is a 'safe pair of hands', a man with a big heart and of increasingly conservative beliefs, who will be warmly welcomed in Westminster and beyond."

Damian Thompson (my go-to source for informed, orthodox UK Catholic news) is delighted by the news:

"... all the signs were that the job was going to a less suitable candidate. "Vin", as he is known, may be ambitious – but for a long time now he has been ambitious on behalf of the Catholic Church. He has fought the Catholic corner a good deal harder than many of his fellow bishops, most recently seeing off plans to force Catholic schools to accept a quota of non-Catholic students. He has also given the BBC a hard time for its anti-Catholic stance.

I don't think +Vincent would have been the first choice of many, if any, Catholic traditionalists, who were hoping that the Pope would choose a dynamic conservative outsider. The Archbishop of Birmingham is dynamic, all right, but it would seem ridiculous to describe him as conservative or an outsider.

And yet... Vin Nichols has become more conservative over the years, and more independent-minded."

Sources say the news will be announced this morning at 11AM (UK time).

update: Catholic Herald has a statement congradulating Abp. Nichols, statements from Christian leaders welcoming him, and a full story + video of the nomination (what good coverage!). VIS:

The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, England, as metropolitan archbishop of Westminster (area 3,634, population 4,664,000, Catholics 472,600, priests 669, permanent deacons 8, religious 1,560), England. He succeeds Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

update 2 - Whipers has video of the press conference and Q&A. I'm too lazy to embed them.