Category Archives: Christianity

Rare stamp that offered fast track to heaven to go on display in UK

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Stamp for papers that enabled ‘fast-track’ through purgatory will be on show at a Hampshire priory

A seal matrix used to authenticate medieval indulgences and offer a fast track to heaven in exchange for cash is to go on display at a Hampshire priory after spending 500 years buried in a field.

The small carved mould, dating between 1470 and 1520, was found by a metal detectorist two miles from Mottisfont, an Augustine priory and site of pilgrimage near Romsey, Hampshire, that is now owned by the National Trust.

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Manipur: why is there conflict and how is the government responding?

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As violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities continues in north-east India, campaigners criticise the authorities’ reaction and both sides warn of civil war

Manipur is a state in north-east India with a population of more than three million. It has been embroiled in an ethnic conflict since early May, fought between the majority Meitei community and the minority Kuki tribe.

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Justin Welby says it was ‘a privilege to be her son’, after mother dies at 93

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Archbishop of Canterbury says he had a messy childhood due to alcoholism in the family but he loved Jane Williams deeply

The archbishop of Canterbury has paid tribute to his mother, Jane Williams, who has died at 93, saying she had “lived a full human life, with all its ups and downs”.

Justin Welby said it had been “a privilege to be her son. I am the person I am in part because of her love, example and encouragement.”

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Catholic chaplain who sexually abused Louisiana students jailed for five years

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Patrick Wattigny, former high school chaplain who resigned in 2020, pleads guilty to molesting two minors at school

The former chaplain of a Roman Catholic high school in Louisiana has pleaded guilty to molesting two minors whom he met through his work and was ordered to spend five years in prison.

Patrick Wattigny’s plea and sentence on Wednesday came after both of his victims strongly advocated for a harsher punishment. One victim, who was present, described how Wattigny spent time grooming him in the mid-1990s. The victim said Wattigny told him he could help him gain entry to heaven, then took him to a rectory to fondle his genitals. Wattigny also used his fingers to rape the victim while masturbating.

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Safeguarding in ‘crisis’ in Church of England, says archbishop of York

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Stephen Cottrell tells General Synod ‘mistakes have been made’, while sacked safeguarding board member says ‘we did our job too well’

The archbishop of York has said there is a “crisis of safeguarding” within the Church of England after its executive disbanded an independent body on abuse.

Stephen Cottrell told the C of E’s ruling body, the General Synod, on Sunday that “mistakes have been made” and that Jesus would be weeping at the events of recent weeks. “We recognise things have gone wrong,” he said. “This is a watershed moment for us. We can’t get this wrong again.”

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‘Like a poll tax’: Church of England should stop charging couples for weddings, say vicars

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Call for high fees to be scrapped as church marriages fall by half in England and Wales between 1999 and 2019

High fees are putting church weddings beyond the reach of many couples and should be scrapped or set at a nominal amount, according to clergy in one of the most deprived areas of England.

Marriage fees, which can be as high as £641, are a contributory factor to the decline in church weddings, they claim. A proposal to be debated this week at the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, calls for fees to be abolished or reduced to a minimal amount “in order to demonstrate the church’s commitment to marriage and pastoral care”.

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Lord’s Prayer opening may be ‘problematic’, says archbishop

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Archbishop of York tells General Synod that ‘Our Father’ has patriarchal connotations

The archbishop of York has suggested that opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, recited by Christians all over the world for 2,000 years, may be “problematic” because of their patriarchal association.

In his opening address to a meeting of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, Stephen Cottrell dwelt on the words “Our Father”, the start of the prayer based on Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the New Testament.

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Pope Francis holds meeting with Julian Assange’s wife

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‘He understands Julian is suffering and is concerned,’ says Stella Assange after audience with pontiff

Pope Francis has met Stella Assange, the wife of the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder, who said the pope’s gesture in receiving her was evidence of his “ongoing show of support for our family’s plight” and concern over the suffering of her husband, Julian.

After the audience, Stella Assange said Francis had sent a letter to her husband in March 2021, during a particularly difficult period. “He has provided great solace and comfort and we are extremely appreciative for his reaching out to our family in this way,” she told the Associated Press. “He understands that Julian is suffering and is concerned.”

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C of E divests of fossil fuels as oil and gas firms ditch climate pledges

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Church pension and endowment funds shed holdings after U-turns by BP and Shell

The Church of England is divesting from fossil fuels in its multibillion pound endowment and pension funds over climate concerns and recent U-turns by oil and gas companies.

The church said it was abandoning oil and gas companies and all firms primarily engaged in the exploration, production and refining of oil or gas by the end of 2023, unless they were in genuine alignment with a 1.5C reduction pathway.

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Pope advised not to give Sunday blessing from hospital balcony

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Prayer will instead be said in his suite after chief surgeon says Francis should avoid strain on abdomen

Pope Francis’s recovery from surgery is going well but doctors have advised him not to deliver his Sunday blessing from a hospital balcony to avoid strain on his abdomen, his surgeon said.

Briefing reporters at the Gemelli hospital on Saturday, chief surgeon Sergio Alfieri also said the 86-year-old had agreed with doctors to stay there for at least all of next week.

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Justin Welby criticises Ugandan church’s backing for anti-gay law

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Archbishop of Canterbury expresses dismay over church’s support for Ugandan law enacted last month

The archbishop of Canterbury has urged the Anglican church in Uganda to reconsider its vociferous support for the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ law, which imposes the death penalty for certain homosexual acts.

Justin Welby said there was no justification for supporting the legislation, in a move that highlights deep divisions within the global Anglican church on LGBTQ+ issues.

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Virgin Mary apparitions ‘not always real’, says Pope Francis

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Pontiff appears to reference a woman who drew pilgrims to a statue near Rome she claimed shed tears of blood

Apparitions of the Virgin Mary are “not always real”, Pope Francis has said, in what appears to be an indirect reference to a woman who drew thousands of pilgrims to a town near Rome to pray before a statue that she claimed shed tears of blood.

“Don’t look there,” the pontiff said during an interview with Rai 1 on Sunday when asked about apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

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Utah school district that banned Bible considers removing Book of Mormon

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Davis school district says it will assess text after complaint for ‘pornographic or indecent materials’ under law passed last year

A school district in Utah that last week banned the Bible from school libraries is now being asked to consider a further title for removal: the Book of Mormon.

The Davis school district, which serves Davis county, north of Salt Lake City, said it was considering a new complaint demanding the removal of the foundational text of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Home Office could forcibly separate non-cohabiting couple before their wedding

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Youssef Mikhaiel is at risk of forced removal to Egypt before he marries Sarah Bradley

A couple planning to marry soon could be forcibly separated by the Home Office because they are not cohabiting before their wedding.

Sarah Bradley, 29, a British digital marketing teacher, and Youssef Mikhaiel, 28, an Egyptian man who graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in aeronautical engineering, met in February 2022 through a Christian dating app.

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Woman in Malta charged in court for having abortion

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Pro-choice groups condemn rare enforcement of country’s total ban on terminations

A woman in Malta has been charged in court for having an abortion, in a rare enforcement of the country’s total ban on terminations.

The Women’s Rights Foundation of Malta said: “What should have never happened [has] happened today: a Maltese woman was brought to court facing charges of having a medical abortion at home.”

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Peter Hollingworth to cease practising as an Anglican priest to ‘end distress’ for survivors

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The former governor general was last month reprimanded over his failure to remove paedophiles from the church’s ranks while Brisbane archbishop

Peter Hollingworth has announced he will cease practising as an Anglican priest and will hand back his permission to officiate, citing a desire to “end distress” for survivors and stop “division” in the church.

Hollingworth was last month the subject of serious misconduct findings, delivered after a protracted internal church process, which reprimanded him for his failure to remove paedophiles from the church’s ranks while Brisbane archbishop in the 1990s.

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Archbishop of Canterbury to criticise small boats bill in House of Lords

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Justin Welby to join peers condemning measures that seek to criminalise people seeking refuge in UK

The archbishop of Canterbury will make a rare intervention in the House of Lords to join dozens of peers condemning the government’s flagship asylum bill.

Justin Welby will argue against measures championed by Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman that seek to criminalise people seeking refuge in the UK if they arrive on small boats.

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UK government funding anti-LGBTQ+ organisation in Uganda, says report

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The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, which is openly homophobic, is a direct recipient of UK aid money

The UK government is helping to fund the work of a virulently homophobic religious organisation in Uganda, whose leaders have backed a proposed law that would make identifying as gay a criminal offence, a report has found.

Analysing official data given to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), the report by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change (IJSC) found a “staggering” number of connections between anti-LGBTQ+ organisations in Uganda and international aid donors, including the UK.

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The wine intervention: Dutch nuns appeal for help with booze glut

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Convent in Oosterhout has been left with surplus of more than 60,000 bottles after hot and dry year

A Dutch convent is appealing to wine drinkers to support its endeavours as, thanks to an extremely hot and dry year, Sint-Catharinadal in Oosterhout has an excess of 64,000 bottles made from its vineyard.

“We had a lovely summer last year, warm temperatures, and it promises to be an excellent harvest of more than 60,000 bottles,” said Sister Maria Magdalena, prioress, in a video appeal.

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Joy and tension as Kyiv marks Orthodox Easter without Moscow clergy

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Cathedral service overseen by clerics independent of Russian-affiliated patriarchate for first time since 17th century

Dawn did not break over wartime Kyiv on Orthodox Easter Sunday. It was more that the darkness gradually paled, leaving the pinnacle of the 18th-century bell tower wreathed in a wan mist.

Soon after 5.30am, the faithful began to trickle into Dormition Cathedral, which stands at the heart of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, or Monastery of the Caves.

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