The appointment was announced yesterday of Dr Francis Xavier Wormwood, SJ as Roehampton Professor of Human Flourishing.

Fr  Wormwood (46) trained at the Venerable English College, and after a short time as pastoral liaison officer for the LGBT community attached to the Church of the Immaculate Conception Farm Street, he held posts successively as theological adviser to ARCIC and Cafod. He lists his interests as Islamic Theology, Catholic-Lutheran relations and Vaticanology. He is a Trustee of The Tablet.

Commenting on the appointment, Professor Wormwood’s uncle Mgnr John Vianney Screwtape (assistant secretary to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales) said that he could not imagine a man more suited to the job.

‘The Wormwoods and the Scewtapes’ he said, ‘have a long association with the Catholic Church, and a deep concern for human flourishing.’