Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali,
former bishop of Rochester, England — once the see of English martyr
St. John Fisher — and a champion of persecuted Christians in Islamic
countries, has joined the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. “I write to let you know of my reception into the ordinariate
established for Anglicans who wish to be in full communion with the See
of Peter,” Lord Nazir-Ali announced….
An Ordinariate priest told Church Militant that “Lord Nazir-Ali is
the most high-profile convert from the Church of England to Rome for the
last 100 years, probably since the conversion of the intellectual
giant Msgr. Ronald Knox.” “Michael is one of the most prodigious intellects of our time, a
heroic apologist for the faith, a bulwark against radical Islam, a
laser-sharp cultural commentator, a persuasive preacher, a passionate
evangelist of the highest caliber, and a brilliant linguist and poet,”
the priest said….
Church Militant also learned that efforts were made at the highest
level of the Vatican to dissuade 72-year-old Nazir-Ali from converting
to Catholicism. “First, Nazir-Ali isn’t the kind of convert we are looking for under
the Francis pontificate. Second, such a high-profile conversion is a
setback to ecumenism. Third, Pope Francis seems to have always indicated
he believes in the validity of Anglican orders,” a senior
Argentinian-based Anglican cleric who knew Cdl. Jorge Bergoglio in
Buenos Aires told Church Militant….
The first non-white diocesan bishop in the Church of England and an
Islamic scholar who is fluent in Urdu and Farsi, Pakistani-born
Nazir-Ali faced biting criticism from his liberal fellow Anglican
bishops for not toeing the Church of England’s politically correct line
on Islam.
An indefatigable campaigner against Muslim apostasy laws in Pakistan
and a prolific writer on Islam, Nazir-Ali said he regretted the church
was not doing enough to convert Muslims to Christianity.
“The so-called ‘blasphemy law’ has caused considerable grief for
Christians and other non-Muslim minorities since even the expression of
their belief can be construed as insulting the Prophet,” he wrote in a
foreword to Freedom to Believe: Challenging Islam’s Apostasy Law.
After a 15-year apostolate as the 106th bishop of Rochester,
Nazir-Ali resigned his bishopric at the age of 59, announcing he would
devote the rest of his life to working for persecuted Christians in
Muslim-dominated regions.
In 2008, the bishop received death threats after
criticizing Islamic extremists for creating “no-go areas” for
non-Muslims in Britain. However, thousands of white working-class
Britons wrote to him and in the media commending him for his
truth-telling and courage.
Nazir-Ali, who also served as bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan, blamed
multiculturalism for segregating religious groups and said Britain’s
abandoning the Christian faith had led to a “multi-faith mish-mash.”
The ideology of Islamic extremism had further alienated “the young
from the nation in which they were growing up and turn[ed] separate
communities into ‘no-go’ areas,” he wrote in Britain’s The Sunday Telegraph.
“If it had not been for the Black-majority churches and the recent
arrival of people from central and Eastern Europe, the Christian cause
in many of our cities would have looked a lost one,” he argued.
Bishop Nazir-Ali’s comments “have angered many working in interfaith
relations, who say he has undermined years of patient work,” the
liberal 
