by Rex Wockner
International News
The Roman Catholic Church has been thwarted in its plan to move the remains of influential 19th-century English Cardinal John Henry Newman from his joint grave with his male housemate of 30 years to a church in Birmingham, in preparation for making him a saint.
When the grave was dug up, there was nothing left there but a brass plate, handles and some red tassels. Newman died in 1890.
Gay activists had objected to the move because Newman had written in his will, "I wish, with all my heart, to be buried in Father Ambrose St. John's grave — and I give this as my last, my imperative will."
The activists had suggested the decision to move Newman's remains was based on a desire to obscure evidence of his rumored homosexuality prior to canonization.
When St. John died, Newman wrote, "I have ever thought no bereavement was equal to that of a husband's or a wife's, but I feel it difficult to believe that any can be greater, or anyone's sorrow greater, than mine."
