In 2024, for example, Cardinal Nichols cancelled the long-established celebration of the Tridentine Holy Week ceremonies in his diocese. It is reported by many sources that he did not want to do so, but was having his arm twisted by Roche.
Cardinal Arthur Roche Santa Saba Great Britain Key Data Summary Cardinal Arthur Roche, the current prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is the most influential Englishman to have worked in the Vatican for many years. Born in Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, in 1950, Arthur Roche was educated at Catholic schools before entering the seminary at St Alban’s College in Valladolid, Spain, where he received a degree in theology from the Jesuit Comillas Pontifical University. On returning to England, he was ordained priest in 1975 by Bishop Gordon Wheeler, Bishop of Leeds, and his early career was spent entirely in his home diocese, where he was private secretary to Wheeler, vice-chancellor of the diocese, served on the staff of St Anne’s Cathedral, and was parish priest of St Wilfred’s Church, Farnley. After obtaining a Licence in Theology at the Gregorian University in 1991, Roche served as spiritual director of the Venerable English College and in …