autograph from Jackie Milburn, the Newcastle United legend, as one of his "proudest achievements". Archbishop On 9 February 1976, Hume was appointed Archbishop of Westminster, the highest ranking prelate in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, by Pope Paul VI. He was not considered the most obvious choice for the post of archbishop as he had lacked visible pastoral experience of running a diocese and, as the first monk to hold the post since the 1850 restoration of the English hierarchy, he was seen to be something of an outsider. Receiving news of the appointment during dinner, Hume later remarked, "I must confess I did not enjoy the rest of the meal." Hume received his episcopal consecration on the following 25 March (the feast of the Annunciation) from Archbishop Bruno Heim in Westminster Cathedral. Bishops Basil Butler OSB and John McClean served as co-consecrators. Cardinal Hume was created Cardinal-Priest of San Silvestro in Capite by Paul VI in the consistory of 24 May 1976. He was one of the cardinal electors in the conclaves of August and October 1978. He was considered by many the most "papabile" Englishman since Cardinal Pole in 1548–1550. Early in his time as archbishop, Hume found himself involved in the 1981 Irish hunger strike. He visited Derry in April 1981 and stated in a letter to Edward Daly, the Bishop of Derry, that "a hunger strike to death is a form of violence to one's self and violence leads to violence." After the death of Bobby Sands in May 1981, debate over the moral aspects of the strike in The Tablet and whether or not it constituted suicide took place. Following the deaths of Patsy O'Hara and Raymond McCreesh later that month, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich asked the British government to acquiesce to the hunger strikers' basic demands, seeking to focus more on the question of injustice leading to such an event, while the English Catholic Church preferred to focus on the question of suicide more heavily. Even after becoming an archbishop, Hume never ceased to see himself as a Benedictine monk first and to interpret his duties in the light of those of a Benedictine abbot: "He must hate faults but love the brothers." (Rule of St Benedict, ch. 64:11). Hume was seen as moderate in his theological positions, trying to please both liberals and conservatives. While condemning homosexual acts, for instance, he