Her Christian faith, expressed so often in her annual Christmas messages and elsewhere, were moments of outstanding witness to her faith, the Gospel and the values of the common good, family life, peace and concord among peoples.
Cardinal Arthur Roche
I am deeply saddened to hear the news about the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I pray for the repose of her soul and for all the members of the Royal Family at this time of sorrow.
On 21 April 1947, her 21st birthday, in a speech broadcast on the radio from Cape Town, the then Princess Elizabeth dedicated her life to the service of the Commonwealth saying, ‘I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong’.
Today we give thanks for that lifetime of service to our country and for her leadership of the Church of England during her 70 year reign. The celebrations we witnessed earlier this year for her Platinum Jubilee show how much respect and love people had for her.
She will be remembered for her dedication, strength, warmth and her pride in our country.
May this good and faithful servant rest in the peace of the Risen Lord.
The Most Reverend Malcolm McMahon OP, Archbishop of Liverpool and Vice President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
We have all been deeply moved to hear of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. I ask all Catholics to pray for her, that she may hear those words from her King and Lord, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant – enter into the rest of your Master.’
We pray too for King Charles and all the Royal Family, that they may be comforted at this time of loss.
I was giving a talk this evening in the Vatican to catechists, bishops and priests from across the world on what it means to try and pass on the Christian Faith. I paused my talk at about 6.30pm UK time for a moment of silence, so that we could recall Queen Elizabeth’s exceptional Christian witness and the way she so often spoke of her relationship with Jesus Christ.
All 1,000 of us in the Audience Hall of Paul VI prayed for the Queen at that poignant moment. Shortly afterwards we all heard the news she had died a few hours before.
We entrust her soul to the mercies and blessings of the Lord.
Archbishop Mark O’Toole, Archbishop of Cardiff and Bishop of Menevia
Most Reverend Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham prays for the Repose of the Soul of Queen Elizabeth II and for the new monarch, King Charles III and the Queen Consort.
O Lord, you have been our refuge, from one generation to the next
Psalm 90:1Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I shall give you rest.
Matthew 11:28As we digest the news of the past day, these two passages from the Bible speak to me of Her Majesty the Queen’s remarkable life of duty and service, as she lays down the burden of her years and begins a new life in God’s presence for ever.
Although the Queen’s life has been long and full, this is still a time of sadness, first of all for her family, but also for so many people who have admired the Queen’s dignity and dedication throughout her life.
In particular, as people of faith, we have valued her frequent references to her own faith in Christ, which has given her strength and guidance in all the circumstances of her life.
Her death is the fulfilment of a long and fruitful life and we commend her soul to the loving mercy of God.
We pray for her and for all those who mourn her loss, especially her family.
In the midst of his own sadness, I pray for our new sovereign King Charles III, as he assumes his new responsibilities, and for the Queen Consort who stands by his side.
I pray for our country at this time: that the Kingdom of God which is our final destination may influence our life on earth and our hope of Heaven.
A statement from the Most Reverend John Wilson, Archbishop of Southwark, on the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The announcement of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is a cause of great sadness for her beloved family, for the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and all people of goodwill.
We give thanks to Almighty God for Her Majesty’s life of unfailing dedication and the outstanding example of Her Majesty’s service, faithful unto death.
As a devoted disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, Her Majesty witnessed to the Gospel of God’s love for all people and worked tirelessly to strengthen harmony, to defend justice and to promote peace. We now pray for the repose of her soul, remembering the promise of Christ, who is the Resurrection and the life: ‘I am with you always, even until the end of time.’ (Mt 28:20) May Her Majesty rest in peace and rise in glory.
We pray for our King, for the Queen Consort and for all the Royal Family at this time of bereavement. We offer to them our deepest sympathy and condolence.
Let us also pray for our United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, grateful to God for Queen Elizabeth II’s remarkable life and selfless commitment to the promises she made at her Coronation. Her Majesty has been a part of all our lives and we shall miss her deeply.
On behalf of the Catholic community of the Diocese of Leeds, the Bishop of Leeds, the Right Reverend Marcus Stock, extends his heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family on the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth – a beloved Monarch and a woman of deep personal faith.
At this sad time we keep her family, our nation and the Commonwealth in our thoughts, as we each mourn and remember this devout Head of the Church of England in our own way, whilst giving thanks for her years of service and for the commencement of the reign of her successor, King Charles III.
We were all shocked and saddened by the news of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II yesterday evening. All that we feel is shared around the world, as we can see from the tributes which have been pouring in from leaders, politicians and very ordinary people whose lives have been touched by her life and her words.
Today we begin to reflect on all that she has meant to us as the head of our country over the past 70 years. Much will be said and written over the next days.
May she now rest in peace.
We pray for our country. We pray for His Majesty King Charles III and for all the members of the Royal Family as they grieve their loss.
May God save the King.
The Right Reverend Alan Hopes, Bishop of East Anglia
Statement from the Clifton Diocese in the west of England:
It is with great sadness that we learnt yesterday of the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
We, the Catholic Community of the Diocese of Clifton, offer sincere condolence to the members of the Royal Family and the Royal Household. We share the sadness of so many people throughout this land and beyond, as we hold in prayerful reverence the memory of Her Majesty.
In praying for the repose of her soul, we ask that Christ Jesus, whom she faithfully and unwaveringly served throughout her life, may welcome her into the joy of his eternal kingdom with the words ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world’.
We pray too for His Majesty, King Charles III as he assumes the high office of monarch.
God save the King.
A woman of faith, service, and duty: We remember Queen Elizabeth II in our prayers and offer up thanks to God for a woman who served the people of our kingdom tirelessly for over seventy years.
We pray for the repose of her soul and that the Father receive her into His Eternal Kingdom. Our prayers and thoughts are with the royal family at this sad time.
Bishop Philip Egan, Bishop of Portsmouth
We pray for the repose of the soul of Queen Elizabeth II.
We give thanks for her years of unquestioned service and dedication to our country. She has been a permanent person of unity for our nation.
An abiding presence, who stood above the daily politics, giving a sense of calm presence in the leadership of our nation, even in the most turbulent of times.
We pray for the Royal Family as they grieve the loss of a dear mother, grandmother and great grandmother. May they take comfort in her Christian Faith as we commend her to God.
We will remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of Mass. May she rest in peace.
Right Reverend John Arnold, Bishop of Salford
The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland (BCOS) has offered prayers following the death of Her Majesty The Queen.
Bishop Hugh Gilbert, President of BCOS, said: “It was with great sadness, that we learned today of the death of Her Majesty The Queen.
Her life of outstanding service during a reign of seventy years stands as an example of dedicated public service in our own country, across the Commonwealth and around the world.
Her determination to remain active to the end of her long life, has been an example of Christian leadership, which demonstrated her great stoicism and commitment to duty and was undoubtedly a source of stability and continuity in times of great change.
Scotland’s Catholic bishops will remember her in our prayers and pray for all those who mourn her loss.
Bishop Hugh Gilbert, President of BCOS
On behalf of the faithful of St Andrews & Edinburgh I offer respectful condolences to His Majesty The King, The Queen Consort and their family on the death of Her Majesty The Queen.
She was an extraordinary example of Christian leadership. We offer our prayers for the repose of her soul and thank God for her many years of service to the nation. May she rest in peace.
Archbishop Cushley – Atchbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh
Sharing the grief of the whole country and beyond, I mourn the passing of a great Christian monarch to whose example of service we are all indebted. She, her family and the new King will be in the prayers of the Catholic faithful of the diocese of Aberdeen. May she rest in peace.
+ Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB – Diocese of Aberdeen
It is with great sadness that we hear of the peaceful death of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II this afternoon at Balmoral Castle. We give thanks for her seventy years of devoted service as Queen to our country and to the wider Commonwealth, and we ask God to reward her for her lifetime of witness to her Christian faith, and her respect for all faiths and peoples. Please pray for the repose of her Majesty’s soul, and please also keep her family and the country in your prayers. May she rest in peace and gain her eternal reward.
Diocese of Galloway via Facebook post
On hearing of Queen Elizabeth’s death the Scottish Bishops, meeting at present in the Royal Scots
College, Salamanca, Spain, prayed Evening Prayer for the Dead, asking that her hope in the Lord’s
Resurrection be now fulfilled and that her family and nation be comforted in our sorrow.
Bishop Toal invites the people of the Diocese of Motherwell to pray also for Queen Elizabeth’s
eternal rest and for God’s Blessing on King Charles III.
+Joseph Toal
The Right Reverend Joseph A. Toal – Bishop of Motherwell
The clergy and the people of the Diocese of Plymouth pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen has been the only monarch that most of us would remember, and we all feel an immense loss. Throughout her reign, she upheld the values and tradition of our society, and she was a true model of leadership and service.
We recall, also, her faith and her belief in Christ:
For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing. Christ’s example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none.” Queen’s Christmas Message, 2014.
We offer our condolence to the members of the Royal Family.
On behalf of the Catholic Community here in Nottingham and across much of the East Midlands, we wish to express our deep sadness at hearing the news of the death of Her Majesty the Queen.
I wish to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and love for the late Queen. We have always admired her deep sense of duty, service, and commitment, but also her very evident love for the people she has served so generously these last 70 years.
We also want to pay our respects to the Queen as a woman of a faith, as a Christian, whose faith always inspired and shaped the way she lived. We pray that Christ Jesus, whom she faithfully served throughout her whole life, may now welcome her into His Kingdom with these words: ‘Well done good and faithful servant.’
Our prayers go out to her family at this very sad time for them, as well as the whole nation.
God save the King.
The Right Reverend Patrick McKinney, Bishop of Nottingham
On behalf of everyone in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, I assure the Royal Family of our prayers at this time of deep sadness and loss.
Queen Elizabeth II has given her whole being to the service of our nation giving the most wonderful example of Christian leadership to all, and the nation mourns her with the greatest sorrow.
Masses will be offered in the churches of this Diocese this coming weekend, with prayers offered for Queen Elizabeth, and for the King, as he takes up his very great responsibilities.
God save the King.
The Right Reverend Richard Moth, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton
It is with profound sadness that I heard the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. What a loss she will be to our countries, to so many countries and peoples of the Commonwealth. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Royal Family as they mourn the loss of a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
“So many of us will find it hard to navigate our paths of life without the constant direction and foundation that the Queen provided.
At the same time, I am filled with immense gratitude for her faithfulness and constant presence. In an age where commitment and loyalty are undervalued, she was the epitome of both. Her Christian faith informed every aspect of her life, and she brought those Christian values to bear in every encounter, be it with the great and the good or with smallest and most humble.
I pray that the Lord receives her into his loving arms and that she rests now peacefully joined with all her loved ones who have gone before her.
I pray for the Royal Family, that they may find comfort and consolation at this difficult time, and I pray that His Majesty, King Charles III, will be given strength and wisdom as he now begins his reign.
The Right Reverend Terence Drainey, Bishop of Middlesbrough
The Right Reverend David Oakley, Bishop of Northampton, is in Rome at present and has prayed in the chapel at the Venerable English College for the repose of the soul of Queen Elizabeth II.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, many of us will have known no other sovereign than Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
We commend her soul into the hands of a merciful Lord and pray that she will know eternal rest. We pray for King Charles.
The apostle Paul invites us to pray for those in civic leadership in our society.
Dear sisters and brothers,
When the Scottish bishops, who are presently in Salamanca for in service, learnt of the death of Queen Elizabeth we gathered together to pray Vespers for the Dead. As one who has recently lost a loved family member, I appreciate the pain her family and friends will be feeling.
The Queen was a rare public figure in contemporary Britain who unashamedly expressed a public faith in Christ. May she and all who have gone before us share in the joy of the Resurrection.
+Brian
The Right Reverend Brian Thomas McGee, Diocese of Argyll and the Isles
On behalf of the Catholic community of the Diocese of Wrexham with its people of many nationalities of the this islands, the Commonwealth and beyond I extend our condolences to the family of Queen Elizabeth IIOur prayer now is that before the throne of the Merciful God she receive in abundance that which she has given, all for which she has hoped in faith and be united with her beloved Prince Philip in the peace and joy of the heavenly kingdom.
Queen Elizabeth II has been an example of Christian faith and light in the greatest and darkest times of our world, may she know now the glory of God from who comes all authority and the rewards for faithful service. We extend to her family our deepest sympathies, and pray before God for their comfort in sorrow and the peace of Christ who proclaimed himself to be the ‘resurrection and the life’.May she rest in peace.
May Prince Charles as he assumes the office of King in grief at the death of his mother know blessing and wisdom in his reign.God save the King.
God save the King
The Rt Rev’d Peter M. Brignall, Bishop of Wrexham
Queen Elizabeth has represented stability throughout her reign and was this country’s longest serving monarch. Although this is a time of very great sorrow, it is also time for gratitude, for a life well lived in duty and in service. We pray for the repose of her soul. May she rest in peace.
Our prayers and thoughts are also with our new Monarch, His Majesty King Charles III. We pray that King Charles will be guided by the message of Jesus Christ to have the strength to carry on the vital role of the monarch to ensure stable government and national unity.
Bishop Robert Byrne CO, Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle
The Catholic Community of the Diocese of Hallam mourns the loss of Our Great Queen, Elizabeth II.
Bishop Ralph Heskett, Bishop of Hallam
We give thanks for her seventy years’ service as our Queen.
Her Christian Faith was the compass of her life.
May Christ who chose her to lead our nation, now receive his loyal servant into the glory of Heaven.
We offer our deepest prayers and condolences to the Royal Family at this sad time for them.
Eternal Rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in Peace.
God save the King.