LONDON (CWNews.com) - Westminster's Archbishop-elect says he is neither a conservative nor a liberal but a bishop of the Catholic Church.

    Following his first press conference yesterday, Bishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was asked which direction his sympathies lay but he said he did not like being labelled. "If by a liberal, you mean someone who is open to all new things that come along, then I am not," he said. "I am a Catholic Bishop who respects the tradition of the Church. If by a conservative, you mean someone who is rigid, a fundamentalist, then I am not that either. I am a man of the Church."

    He said he had no great plans for Westminster Archdiocese but would be doing "what I have been striving to do for the past 22 years in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, namely teaching and preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and endeavoring to be a shepherd, a guide, and pastor of the people."

    A former Portsmouth Rugby Club player, Bishop Murphy-O'Connor revealed that he used to play rugby for the Vatican XV during his time in Rome and he spoke of his love of rugby, golf, and football (soccer), and admitted following the fortunes of local football clubs.