Parents who choose a faith school for their children have a right to expect the state to support them, the most senior Catholic cleric in England and Wales has said.  

The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols (pictured), issued an impassioned defence of faith schools after a high profile legal challenge to their admissions policies, the Daily Telegraph reports.

In remarks at the official opening of two new Catholic schools in his diocese, he said that opponents of church schools, led by secular and atheist campaign groups, had attempted to “sow division” in the community.

And he described a parent’s choice to send their child to be educated in the faith which is “precious” to them as a human right.

His intervention came as he officially opened two new Catholic schools in Richmond Upon Thames, west London, which were bitterly opposed by atheist groups.

They waged a long campaign against the opening of St Richard Reynolds Catholic College – a primary and secondary school on the same site – which ended up at the High Court last year.  

In an address at the opening of the schools, named after a monk who was martyred during the reign of Henry VIII, the Archbishop insisted that Catholic schools play a vital role in building “social cohesion”

“A Catholic school is a response to the proper and legitimate expectations that parents can look to the state to help them to educate their children in the faith and way of life which is precious to them.

“In this way a Catholic school contributes to social cohesion by respecting the rights of parents and by maintaining educational diversity.

“This parental right is enshrined in European Conventions [on Human Rights] and to be honoured wherever possible.”