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Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has left the Anglican Church to become a Roman Catholic.

His wife and children are already Catholic and there had been speculation he would convert after leaving office.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, who led the service to welcome Mr Blair, said he was "very glad" to do so.

But ex-Tory minister Ann Widdecombe - herself a Catholic convert - said Mr Blair's voting record as an MP had often "gone against church teaching".

Last year, Mr Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, said he had prayed to God when deciding whether or not to send UK troops into Iraq.

And one of Mr Blair's final official trips while prime minister was a visit to the Vatican in June where he met Pope Benedict XVI.

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Personally, I really don't care about whether he's a Catholic, or a member of any other religion, even though there seems to be considerable hypocrisy surrounding these decisions (Ann Widdecombe's statements being brought into account here). What does bother me, though, is this:

Mr Blair last year told ITV1 chat show host Michael Parkinson he had prayed while deciding whether to send troops into Iraq.

"In the end, there is a judgement that, I think if you have faith about these things, you realise that judgement is made by other people... and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well," he said.

I mean no offence to any Christians, or followers of any other religion, but in my opinion, if you're going to send innocent people to war with the possibility of getting killed, you should damn well make sure it's your own judgement that is doing it, and not that of an entity that may or may not exist. As one reader put it:

The thought that people in power have gone to war based upon the voices in their heads fills me with horror.

Feel free to strike me down and argue your points on this one.

So, what do you think?

My family have this point about Tony Blair's "to do list". 1: Create utter havoc. 2. Resign before I get slaughtered by an angry mob. 3. Become a Catholic.

Kaz ->> People of faith do not make decisions based on thoughts in their head as you imply. Instead, people of faith pray to the God or being they worship for guidance and strength. In Christianity, Christians often pray to God in hopes He will provide them with guidance, and at least give them strength. Whether or not He does is largely irrelevant as the actions taken are your own actions and you are responsible for their consequences. In the past, Mr. Blair has repeatedly said that the consequences lay on his shoulders. Whatever feelings you have about Mr. Blair putting British troops in Iraq, they are there not because of little voices in his head but because he made a judgment, whether wrong or not, that the world would be better without Saddam.

As for Widdecombe's statements, I don't know of her position as anything but a MP, but it strikes me as similar to that of a newspaper here in the States digging for comments and having to resort to a middle-level official from the opposite party. Her comment seems more politically designed rather than a true objection to his conversion.

In any case, Blair converted for the same reason thousands of men do every year; because their wives are Catholic and forced their hubbie to raise their children Catholic. Once you have a wife and four children of another religion, it's just the natural course of things for you to convert over as well.