Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, a former Master of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), is a well-known progressive theologian whose views on some of the Church’s moral teachings, particularly homosexuality, have caused considerable controversy.

Born on August 22, 1945, Radcliffe is one of six children and comes from one of England’s most prominent aristocratic Catholic families, with a long and respected lineage. His aristocratic heritage is also evident in his privileged education: Radcliffe was privately educated, attending the Benedictine-run schools of Worth in Sussex and the prestigious Downside in Somerset before graduating from Oxford University.

Radcliffe joined the English Province of the Dominican Order in 1965 and was ordained in 1971. He studied at Blackfriars and St John’s College in Oxford, as well as in Paris under noted French theologian Yves Congar, a proponent of the contested Nouvelle Théologie liberal movement.

Throughout his career, Radcliffe has held several significant positions. He served as chaplain to the University of London from 1974 to 1976 before returning to Oxford, where he taught scripture and doctrine for twelve years. He was Prior of Oxford from 1982 to 1988 after which he was elected Provincial of the English Province.

In 1992, he was the first member of the English Province to have ever been elected Master of the Order of Preachers, a position he held until 2001. During that time, he travelled the world, founded Dominican Volunteers International and played a key role in helping to establish the Franciscan-Dominican representative offices at the United Nations, giving the Dominicans “Non-Governmental Organization status.”

A close friend of the late Cardinal Basil Hume who hoped he would succeed him as Archbishop of Westminster, Radcliffe is a renowned theologian, preacher, and author who is largely celebrated by progressive theologians and proponents of liberal theology. His books have been translated into 24 languages. In 2007 he won the Michael Ramsey Prize, an Anglican award, for his theological writing. Radcliffe has also received numerous honorary doctorates, including from Oxford University, Fribourg University, and the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).

He has served as patron of Catholic AIDS Prevention and Support and has been involved in the ministry to people with Aids, as well campaigning against nuclear weapons. Radcliffe has also spent eight years on the board of CAFOD and is a patron of the International Young Leaders Network.

Although he had sought a simple life in Oxford in the 2000s after serving as head of the Dominicans, Radcliffe’s career gained a new lease of life after Pope Francis was elected and he found his progressive views closely aligning with those of the Francis pontificate.

In 2015, he was appointed as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, an appointment that coincided with his leadership at the time of the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars, Oxford.

In October 2023 and at the Pope’s invitation, Radcliffe offered spiritual reflections to members of the Synod on Synodality, beginning with a pre-synod retreat. At the synod’s second and final Rome meeting in October 2024, Radcliffe was given an expanded role, offering spiritual reflections throughout much of the month-long meeting as well as at a retreat before the assembly began. He spoke, among other topics, on the importance of listening and dialogue, being open to God’s Providence, and cautioning against fear-driven decision-making, whether fear of change or fear of staying the same.

After Pope Francis announced in October 2024 he would elevate Father Radcliffe to the College of Cardinals, Radcliffe requested an exemption from dressing like a cardinal which the Pope granted in “full understanding,” freeing him “from using such elaborate clothing.”

Radcliffe has not been without controversy when it comes to some of his comments on the Church’s moral teachings, and particularly relating to homosexuality. In 2005, as the Vatican debated whether men with same-sex attraction should be admitted to seminaries, following the clerical sex-abuse scandals, Father Radcliffe said the inclination should not bar men from the priesthood, but that those who oppose their candidacy should be.

In a talk in Los Angeles in 2006, Father Radcliffe called on Catholics to “accompany [homosexuals] as they discern what this means, letting our images be stretched open.” He said this would mean watching Brokeback Mountain [the first major Hollywood movie to feature a love story between two leading homosexual roles], reading gay novels, living with our gay friends and listening with them as they listen to the Lord.”

In 2012, in support of same-sex civil unions which the Vatican had always opposed, he wrote in The Tablet that homosexual relationships should be “cherished and supported” and that the “God of love can be present in every true love.” Radcliffe has often celebrated Masses for homosexual Catholics — the so-called “Soho Masses” — in London.

Writing in an Anglican journal in 2013, he said same-sex relationships “can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift” and “expressive of mutual fidelity, a covenantal relationship in which two people bind themselves to each other forever.” He opposes “gay marriage,” saying it is not equivalent to marriage, as it is not “inherently unitive.”

For many years, concerns have been raised about Radcliffe’s history of “pushing the boundaries of Catholic orthodoxy.” On homosexuality, critics say his comments contradict the Church’s teaching but that he obscures this by claiming to support the Magisterium while simultaneously questioning how it should be applied. His writings have been described as a “squid ink or smoke screen” attempting to avoid clear moral statements on homosexual activity.

Others have accused him of using rhetoric that serves as a “trojan horse” to change the Church’s teaching on sexuality; they also point out that he fails to make clear distinctions between homosexual orientation, which the Church teaches is not sinful, and homosexual acts that are considered sinful.

During the October 2024 synod, Cardinal Radcliffe was critical of the bishops of Africa who rejected Fiducia Supplicans, and he raised eyebrows by writing in L’Osservatore Romano that he believed African bishops had been “under intense pressure from Evangelicals, with American money; from Russian Orthodox, with Russian money; and from Muslims, with money from the rich Gulf countries.” He later issued a statement insisting his comments were not intended to suggest that stances taken by the African bishops “were influenced by financial considerations.”

In statements on other issues, the English Dominican voiced his support for relaxing restrictions on Holy Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried before the 2014-2015 Synods on the Family. Writing in America magazine in 2013, he said he had two “profound hopes” — that a “way will be found to welcome divorced-and-remarried people back to Communion” and that women will be allowed to preach at Mass.

Cardinal Radcliffe is a firm believer in synodality. He has warned in the past about “fear of debate” in the Church and “suspicion that if we really air our disagreements then the authority of the Church will be undermined.” He believes that courage and humility are needed to “dare to put a foot wrong” because “we cannot speak as those who have the truth wrapped up, unlike our ignorant and bigoted opponents!”

For Radcliffe, it is important to trust in the Holy Spirit that “the truth will emerge” but admits that “we might not turn out to be right.”