Matters came to a head in 1850 when Bl. Pope Pius IX reestablished the division of England into Catholic sees and in so doing set off a wave of anti-Catholicism in Britain. Every sort of attack was thrown at the Church, including the seemingly ever-present use of "former" Catholic priests read to tell paranoid crowds about the "secret evils" of the Church of Rome. When Newman responded to these attacks with his customary wit and intelligence, he was hauled into court, but to the surprise of many, was able to produce evidence for every single comment he had made, yet was still found guilty by a Protestant jury. However, the verdict was later quashed and even "The Times" (certainly no Catholic publication) announced that the trial against him had been grossly unfair.
Despite these difficulties, Newman carried on, but came into conflict again by those observers always eager to see and enlarge divisions within the Church. Newman was portrayed as one of the "Liberal Catholics", mostly because he believed that, for instance, scientific truth and religious truth must be in agreement. This caused a rift between those represented by Newman and the other illustrious English convert, Cardinal Manning. However, in reality, Newman was no "liberal" of any sort. He forsaw the Modernist crisis and was adamant that the Church can never change any doctrine, nor should it seek to compromise with worldly trends. He seemed to know that a major problem like this would arise, just as he seemed to foresee the loss of the Pope's temporal power in Italy, a campaign for which was already underway.
Newman also continued to write, much and well on both the faith and his own life and continued to defend and uphold the Church against any who would attack it. His writing is credited with displaying the best reconciliation of those things which most divide Christians: individual genius with tradition and private judgement with authority. Again however, he was often misunderstood, during the First Vatican Council particularly regarding his thoughts on Papal infallibility. In fact though, he had already declared his support for this truth much earlier and spoke with considerable disgust about the role of journalists at Vatican I playing up fights and disagreements when there essentially were none; in some ways forshadowing what would happen later at Vatican II. The spiritual authorities in Rome were also often among those who gained a false impression of Newman and kept him at arm's length, yet his continued submission to their authority only further reveals the depth of Newman's faith and devotion.
Newman's position though, could not be ignored and his genius could not be denied. The next pontiff was determined to recognize him for his many years of work for the Church and in 1879 Pope Leo XIII said he intented to elevate Newman to the College of Cardinals. On May 12, in Rome, he was elevated to the rank of Cardinal-Deacon of the title of St. George and in his biglietto speech stated firmly and clearly that he had been an enemy of liberalism all his life, since it was a system with denied the truth of religion and said that any doctrine was more or less as good as another, in effect, moral relativism is what he was condemning. For Newman, Christianity was both miraculous as well as an objective fact could be clearly proven.
By this time, Newman had become quite a beloved figure and Catholics all over the world, but particularly in England, celebrated his elevation with great enthusiasm and messages of support poured in. He was not a bishop after all, and his Cardinal's hat seemed to signify that, even if reunion remained unattained, the Catholics of England had finally regained at least the essentials of what had been lost through centuries of seperation and persecution. Not only was Catholicism being freely practised in England again, but men like Cardinal Newman had seen to it that the Church in England experienced a revival and was actually growing again, both in numbers and in respect and recognition by the non-Catholic community. His writing has helped many, many people since to better understand and better defend Christianity and the Catholic Church. Cardinal Newman went to be with the Lord on August 11, 1890 in Birmingham, England and was declared "Venerable" on January 22, 1991; the first step on the road to sainthood. Many believe he will be canonized in the not too distant future while others, and not a few, believe that he will one day be declared a Doctor of the Church.