Catholic priests, religious brother attacked at Mozambique archdiocesan training center

Fear has gripped the Nazaré Training Center in Mozambique’s Archdiocese of Beira following a Sunday, Feb. 23, attack that left two priests and a religious brother at the facility injured.

The Conference of Religious Institutes of Mozambique told Catholic pontifical and charity foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International that a group of men armed with pistols, machetes, and irons entered the institution in the early hours of Feb. 23, violently attacking three missionaries who were there.

According to a Feb. 25 ACN report, the conference “expressed its concern about the insecurity” in the southern African nation following the attack and appealed for prayers for peace in the country.

ACN reported that the two priests and brother were “tied up and tortured by the bandits” at the institution, which engages in various activities, including formation courses for the Mozambican archdiocese.

Fortunately, according to the report, all three men “are out of danger” and suffered only “minor pain and injuries.”

One of the victims, Father Timothée Bationo, is a priest from Burkina Faso who celebrated two decades of priesthood in December 2024 and is currently the episcopal vicar for consecrated life of the Archdiocese of Beira. He is responsible for the Nazaré Training Centre.

ACN said the attack on the Catholic institution occurred at a sensitive moment in the political life of the Portuguese-speaking African nation, which has been wreaked by political upheaval following a contested presidential election. 

Mozambique, ACN said, also continues to suffer from attacks by the Al Shahab militants, especially in the country’s northern province of Cabo Delgado.

In its report, ACN quotes one of the victims as saying that the robbery incident was being handled by security officials, who he said are yet to provide details about the robbers, including their identity and what they might have stolen.

Vicar for Consecrated Life in Tanzania’s Tabora Catholic Archdiocese Appointed Auxiliary Bishop

Pope Francis has appointed Mons. Josaphat Jackson Bududu as Auxiliary Bishop of Tanzania’s Catholic Archdiocese of Tabora, where Protase Cardinal Rugambwa is the Local Ordinary.

The Episcopal appointment of Mons. Bududu, who has been serving as Vicar for Consecrated Life and the Parish Priest of St. Joseph Kipalapala Parish of the Tanzanian Metropolitan See was made public by the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday, February 26.

The Tanzanian-born Bishop-elect, who has been assigned the titular See of Vegesela in Numidia, Italy, was born in March 1977 in Kaliua in Tabora Archdiocese.

He was ordained a Priest for his native Archdiocese on 9 July 2009 after completing his philosophical and theological studies at Kibosho Major Seminary in Tanzania’s Moshi Catholic Diocese and Kipalapala Major Seminary in Tabora Archdiocese, respectively.

As a Priest, Mons. Bududu has served in various capacities, including Parish ministry. The holder of a Doctorate in Spirituality from the Tamil Nadu Institute of Spirituality and St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute in Bangalore, India, has also served as formator at Archbishop Mario Mgulunde Propaedeutic Seminary in Kipalapala.

The Tanzanian Bishop-elect has also served as a Professor at St. Paul’s Kipalapala Senior Seminary, and Spiritual Director of the Religious Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Sisters in Tabora.

Once Consecrated Bishop, Mons. Bududu will assist 64-year-old Cardinal Rugambwa, who was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Tabora in April 2023, named Cardinal in July 2023, and created Cardinal during the September 2023 Consistory. 

Erected in January 1887 as Vicariate Apostolic of Unianyembé, the 76,151-square-kilometer Metropolitan See that has Kahama, Kigoma, and Mpanda as Suffragan Dioceses was elevated to an Archdiocese in March 1953.

Tabora Archdiocese has a population of 261,216 Catholics, representing 11.3 percent of the total population in the Metropolitan See, according to 2023 statistics.

Archbishop of Wales: ‘Serious and urgent’ safeguarding concerns at Bangor Cathedral

“VERY serious and urgent” safeguarding concerns at Bangor Cathedral have prompted the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andy John, also the Bishop of Bangor, to order a visitation. 

It was ordered in October, but has come to wider attention only in the past week, after letters sent by the Archbishop were leaked to the press. 

The first letter, dated 10 October, and addressed “Dear Colleague”, states: “I am writing to you about safeguarding issues which have been brought to my attention in our Cathedral. I believe these matters to be very serious and urgent.

“It has become evident that procedures, designed to help and keep our churches safe, have not been followed as they should have been. It is possible that concerns which ought to have been raised or referred to the Provincial Safeguarding Team (PST) . . . have not been progressed nor disclosed.” Recipients of the letter are encouraged to refer any incident of concern to this team.

A second letter, dated 11 October, and addressed “Dear Canon”, refers to a meeting between the Archbishop and the Archdeacon of Bangor, the Ven. David Parry, who had been chairing Chapter meetings in the absence of a dean. It goes on to say that the Chapter must countersign a serious-incident referral to the Charity Commission made by the PST, and that the Archbishop had invited “senior figures, both from within the province and outside it”, to undertake a visitation. This would focus “on the quality of life, faith, discipline, behaviour and culture of the Cathedral”.

Terms of reference for the visitation appended to the letter refer to areas of concern, including safeguarding and “the integrity of professional and personal boundaries between colleagues”.

The commissaries are the Ven. Christopher Potter, a former Dean and Archdeacon of St Asaph; the Ven. Mike Komor, a former Archdeacon of Margam and former Acting Dean of Llandaff; Canon Trish Owens, an associate priest in the diocese of St Asaph; and the charity Thirtyone:eight.

It was due to take place in the week beginning 11 November 2024, and a report was due to be sent to the Archbishop on 2 December.

This week, a Church in Wales spokesperson confirmed that a serious incident had been referred to the Charity Commission, and that, in addition to the visitation, a safeguarding review by Thirtyone:eight, reported by the Welsh news service Nation.Cymru, was under way. Neither process had been completed by 2 December, but both reports were now complete, he said.

The summaries were “still being worked on”, and would be made public.

Asked about the nature of the safeguarding issues and the current status of any investigation, the spokesperson said that it was “hugely important that those engaged in the Visitation process are able to take part in conditions of confidentiality”.

Bangor Cathedral has been without a Dean since the Ven. Kathy Jones left, in 2021. That year, Canon Siôn Rhys-Evans was appointed Sub-Dean and Canon Treasurer by Archbishop John. He had been ordained as deacon two years earlier, in June 2019, and was serving a curacy as an NSM in the Llandudno Ministry Area, in the archdeaconry of the Rt Revd Mary Stallard, now Bishop of Llandaff. He remained in post as diocesan secretary of Bangor, a position he took up in 2013.

On 29 December 2024, a statement on the diocese of Bangor’s website said: “Canon Siôn Rhys Evans is leaving his roles as Diocesan Secretary and Sub-Dean.” Asked for further information about the departure, the diocesan spokesperson said: “The Revd Siôn Rhys Evans was away from work from February 2024.”

He was listed as the chair of trustees at the cathedral in its annual report, filed in October, and as the company secretary in the annual report of the Bangor diocesan board of finance, also filed last October. The Church Times understands that the safeguarding issues that prompted the visitation do not relate to the conduct of Canon Rhys-Evans.

Sources who spoke to the Church Times this week raised concerns about Canon Rhys-Evans’s holding the two posts, and a potential conflict of interest.

Canon Rhys-Evans declined to comment.

In the Church in Wales, the positions of Dean and Archdeacon are in the gift of the diocesan bishop. Archbishop John has been Bishop of Bangor since 2008. The constitution states that no person shall be appointed Dean unless he or she has been at least six years in priest’s orders.

This week, the diocesan spokesperson confirmed that a former Archdeacon of Meirionnydd in the diocese, the Ven. Andrew Jones, had resigned in 2023 after ten years in post. He had also resigned as a Canon of Bangor Cathedral, an office that he had held since 2005. The spokesman declined to provide a reason for the resignation.

Archbishop of York consecrates new bishops in Canterbury Cathedral

The Archbishop of York has consecrated four new bishops in a service at Canterbury Cathedral. 

Two will serve the Diocese of Oxford, while one will serve the Diocese of Birmingham and another the Diocese in Europe.

Archbishop Stephen consecrated the Reverend Canon Mary Gregory as the new Bishop of Reading; the Reverend Canon Dave Bull as the new Bishop of Buckingham; the Reverend Canon Esther Prior as the new Bishop of Aston; and the Reverend Canon Andrew Norman as the Bishop in Europe. The Venerable Luke Irvine-Capel was consecrated as the new Bishop of Richborough in a ceremony later in the day. 

The service began at 11am with a procession of senior bishops and clergy to the West End of the Nave of Canterbury Cathedral. Dr Jane Williams, the McDonald Professor in Christian Theology at St Mellitus College, delivered the sermon. Towards the end of the service, the newly ordained bishops turned to face the congregation while the Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Sarah Mullally, formally welcomed them with a special prayer.

Archbishop Stephen said, “It was a real privilege to consecrate Mary, Dave, Esther, and Andrew today, and wonderful to see Luke consecrated as Bishop of Richborough. Each of them brings a wealth of skills and experience to their new role. The Church will be richly blessed by their ministry.

"This is a challenging time yet the work of the Church goes on. From after-school groups and choral evensongs to food banks, chaplaincies, and countless quiet acts of service, members of our churches continue to demonstrate the transformational love of Christ. This is the vocation of the Church and the new bishops consecrated today will help lead and support this mission.”

Bishop Mary, the new Bishop of Reading, previously served as the Canon Residentiary for Arts and Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral. She was ordained as a priest in 2006. She said, “…life with God is an adventure, full of surprises, and I am sure that God is now inviting me to this new work as Bishop of Reading. Into that role, I will take my commitment to reconciliation and my absolute conviction that God loves and welcomes all of us”.

Bishop Dave, the new Bishop of Buckingham, most recently held the position of Team Rector at All Saints Marlow. He was previously the Chaplain to the 2012 London Olympics, and enjoys mountain biking. He said, “"It is an exciting prospect to serve Buckinghamshire as Bishop in the coming years. My family have made it our home for the past 13 years and so we have already come to love many of the communities, schools and churches here. I look forward to coming to love all the others in the years ahead.”

Bishop Esther, the new Bishop of Aston, was previously the vicar of St John’s Egham in Surrey. She was born in Malawi and has served as a school chaplain and a young offenders’ prison chaplain. She said, “I thank God for the opportunity to serve as the Bishop of Aston. Faith in Jesus Christ…motivates me to look forward with hope and joy. I look forward to getting to know and love the communities of the Church of England Birmingham in the months to come."

Bishop Andrew, the new Bishop in Europe, will serve the diocese in Europe, which contains communities of worship from Norway to Morocco and Turkey. He previously held the position of Director of Ministry and Mission for the Diocese of Leeds, and began his curacy at St Michael’s, Paris. Before ordination, Bishop Andrew worked in a factory in Malta which printed bank notes. He will be installed at Holy Trinity Cathedral Gibraltar in the next few months. He said, “‘I’m delighted to be returning to the diocese where I served my curacy. Being Suffragan Bishop in this vast and fascinating diocese is an exciting as well as a daunting prospect. In partnership with other churches in Europe, there’s wonderful potential for nurturing Christian faith and witness.”

Bishop Luke, the new Bishop of Richborough, will serve the eastern dioceses in the southern province as one of the Provincial Episcopal Visitors providing episcopal oversight for traditional catholic parishes. He previously held the position of Archdeacon of Chichester. He said, “I greatly look forward to moving home and to being embedded in the Diocese of Portsmouth, sharing in the life and mission of that Diocese with Bishop Jonathan and each of the Bishops across the 14 Dioceses served by the See of Richborough. Please pray for me and my family as I prepare to begin this exciting ministry.” 

Former Co-op boss and coke-snorting church leader dubbed the 'Crystal Methodist' is jailed for three years

A disgraced former church minister and banking group boss was today jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to fraud charges amounting to nearly £100,000.

Paul Flowers, 74, took the cash his friend had left to orphans and abandoned donkeys and blew it on Class A drugs, fine wine and holidays.

Nicknamed the 'Crystal Methodist', Flowers appeared in the dock wearing a casual grey top and struggling to move while using walking stick. 

Flowers had pleaded guilty to 18 counts of fraud last July which amount to nearly £100,000. 

The court heard that he had Power of Attorney for his friend Margaret Jarvis who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease before her death in 2016 and he was then the executor of her will.

Prosecuting at Manchester crown court Joe Allman said that Flowers, from Swindon, stole from his friend before and after her death.

He had set up a bank account which her private and public pensions of around £2,600 a month were paid in. He used the cash to pay for her nursing care but also helped himself to the money. Some £60,000 of Miss Jarvis's money was also moved into the account which Flowers had access to.

Mr Allman said that Miss Jarvis had left £10,000 each to three nieces and the rest to various charities, including a donkey sanctuary, an orphanage in South Africa and for Alzheimer's research. But only one niece was paid the £10,000 while the charities did not receive the cash.

The court was told that Miss Jarvis's health started to deteriorate in late 2012 and that the Power of Attorney then took effect. She went to live in a home, first in Southampton and later in Buckinghamshire to be closer to family.

Flowers, originally from Bradford, had moved to Manchester around this time.

Miss Jarvis died in 2016 and Flowers, who the court heard had struggled to be open about his sexuality, made the funeral arrangements which included a professional photographer who he introduced as his lodger.

As well as blowing the cash on Class A drugs which included large amounts of cocaine, Flowers used it to pay for holidays, cruises, a bespoke staircase costing nearly £15,000, a luxury carpet for his flat, wine from the Wine Society, theatre tickets for two for London show Jersey Boys while staying at the Park Hotel in Knightsbridge, and a hotel in Corfu.

In a victim impact statement, a niece of Miss Jarvis said that if her auntie had lived longer then the money would have run out and she would have had to be moved to a different nursing home which would have caused her huge distress. She said that the various charities that her auntie had wanted to support had been deprived of vital funds. The court heard that another niece, who didn't receive a penny, told how it was completely unacceptable that Flowers had stolen her inheritance and that he should pay it back.

In mitigation his defence barrister Bob Elias told how Flowers had gone on to become a clergyman and then the chairman of the Co-op Bank.

Mr Elias said: 'This coincided with his escalation of his use of cocaine. He started developing a very serious drug addiction to cocaine.

'Miss Jarvis had been a true friend, they had gone on holiday together. Her trust was sorely misplaced and he acknowledges he let down his friend very badly. He cared about her very much. That is the fall from grace. It is a betrayal of trust. He squandered the money on Class A drugs and a staircase. It was mainly cocaine. He is a man who is unwell. He has let himself go. He is morbidly overweight and has type 2 diabetes and psychiatric problems. He has a sense of failure and despair at his life. It is a precipitous fall. He is a very unusual man, very few climb high and fall. He has thrown it all away.'

Judge Nicholas Dean KC, the honorary recorder of Manchester, said: 'This is a story of betrayal. It is a betrayal of an old friend, someone who trusted you and who had every reason to believe she could trust you. You knew all along she couldn't. You took on the Power of Attorney at a time when you knew that was not the right thing to do. Over a period of time you stole almost £100,000 first of all from Margaret Jarvis and then from her estate. You did not use those funds for necessities. You used the funds to support your own lifestyle and consumption of drugs.'

A proceeds of crime hearing will be held on July 21.

After the sentencing, Jayne Sharp, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West said: 'Paul Flowers appeared to be a pillar of the community as a former Methodist minister, local councillor and bank director.

'However, the trust and confidence Ms Jarvis had in Flowers when she named him as executor of her will and gave him power of attorney was sorely misplaced.

'He carried out a systematic fraud over a period of six years, seemingly motivated by his darker side; in particular, his addiction to class A drugs.

'Flowers stole a significant sum of money from his friend, with no thought for her, her family or the charities she had chosen to support after her death.

'He will now face the consequences of his actions.'

Flowers is a former Methodist minister who chaired the Co-operative Bank. He hit the headlines in 2013 after the Mail on Sunday published secretly filmed footage of him handing over £300 in cash for crystal meth and other drugs in Leeds.

The Mail on Sunday story, headlined 'Crystal meth shame of bank chief', was the starting point for a rapid and public decline in Flowers' fortunes.

After it, he pleaded guilty at Leeds magistrates court to possessing cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine and was fined £400.

Further tabloid stories followed about his use of drugs and male escorts.

He stood down as chair of the Co-op Bank, a post he had held for more than three years, after a £1.5bn hole was discovered in its finances, but before the Mail on Sunday story.

Flowers, a former Labour councillor in Rochdale and Bradford, was later banned from the financial services industry after the City watchdog found he demonstrated the 'lack of fitness and propriety required' to work in the sector.

The Financial Conduct Authority concluded he used his work mobile telephone to make a number of inappropriate telephone calls to a premium-rate chat line and he used his work email account to send and receive sexually explicit and otherwise inappropriate messages, and to discuss illegal drugs.

In a 2016 interview Flowers admitted taking drugs and having sex with male prostitutes when chair of the Co-op Bank. But, he said, he tried to be 'a decent Christian person'.

Life without parole for Nice church attacker who murdered three

A Tunisian man who fatally stabbed three people in a terrorist attack at a church in Nice, almost decapitating one victim, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in France.

Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, had told the special court in Paris he had no recollection of the attack in October 2020. He later admitted he was taking revenge on “you [westerners] who kill Muslims every day”.

Armed with a kitchen knife, Aouissaoui almost decapitated 60-year-old Nadine Devillers, stabbed Barereto Silva, a 44-year-old Franco-Brazilian care worker, and slit the throat of Vincent Loqués, a 55-year-old church worker, at the Notre-Dame basilica.

He was convicted of the three murders and six attempted murders.

On Wednesday the court made the rare decision to give him the maximum sentence of life imprisonment with almost no chance of parole for the attack described in the trial as one of “unusual savagery”.

The presiding judge, Christophe Petiteau, described the murders as “very violent” and said the sentence reflected the judges’ verdict that Aouissaoui presented a “too high risk” of reoffending.

Petiteau described Brahim Aouissaoui as “an extremely dangerous man” whose “intention to kill could not be disputed”. His actions could not be described as being the result of a spontaneous “mad act”, the judges added.

The investigating magistrate said Aouissaoui had described France as “a country of miscreants and dogs” and said he was determined to “sow terror”.

The court was told that Aouissaoui had dropped out of school in Tunisia at the age of 13 and was drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis at the time. He was radicalised at the end of 2018.

In a closing address to the special court, the counsel for the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said Aouissaoui was “locked into his totalitarian and barbaric fanaticism”. He added: “The attack was in reality the culmination of a jihadist commitment born in Tunisia.”

It took seven police officers to arrest Aouissaoui, who was shot several times. Afterwards, officers said he was carrying a copy of the Qur’an, three knives and two mobile phones.

According to the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office there were “many indications that at the time he left Tunisia … the accused intended to carry out an attack in France”.

A national day of mourning was held for the three victims. 

The killings came two weeks after the history-geography teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded near his secondary school north-west of Paris by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee angered at reports he had shown pupils caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in a lesson on freedom of speech.

Aouissaoui had crossed the Mediterranean from Tunisia to Italy a month before the attack and then entered France overland.

Catholic priest has medical episode moments after being found guilty of a sex crime

A Saskatoon priest has been found guilty of sexual assault after he hugged and kissed a teenage girl while alone in a storage closet at St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, according to a provincial court judge.

Janko Kolosnjaji, 71, was charged with sexual assault stemming from an incident involving a 13-year-old girl on March 11, 2023. The girl can’t be named because of a publication ban.

At Saskatoon Provincial Court on Wednesday, Judge Lua Gibb found Kolosnjaji guilty of sexual assault.

Shortly after hearing the verdict, Kolosnjaji could be seen having a medical episode, and people were asked to leave the courtroom. About 30 minutes later Kolosnjaji was taken out of the courtroom and court proceedings resumed.

Kolosnjaji’s case will be back before the courts on Thursday to set a sentencing date. His current condition is unknown.

Kolosnjaji’s trial began in August. Court heard the teen and her family were Ukrainian refugees who cleaned St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church every Saturday.

On the day of the incident, court heard the girl was helping her mother clean the church, when she went to get a vacuum cleaner from the supply closet. During her testimony, she said the priest hugged her for about 15 to 20 seconds, then grabbed her chin, raised her head and kissed her on the lips.

She said the priest then told her she had “very beautiful eyes.”

Kolosnjaji later took the stand when his trial resumed in November, saying he went to the storage room after hearing a loud sound. He said the girl was red in the face and looked as though she was scared, and maybe something happened with the vacuum cleaner.

Kolosnjaji said to help reassure the girl, he asked for a hug and then he went to kiss her forehead while her head was tilted down. He said as he kissed her, the girl looked up and his kiss landed on her cheek near her mouth instead.

Kolosnjaji testified a “kiss of peace” is customary to show support and appreciation in Catholicism.

In Judge Gibb’s decision, she said Kolosnjaji’s explanation fails because he asked for consent when hugging the girl every time before, but he did not ask for consent when kissing her, a “far more” intrusive act.

Gibb mentioned how Kolosnjaji admitted to having an affinity for the girl and would often hug her, but never hug her mother or her brother. She also noted the girl and her mother were not parishioners, and did not attend church services.

“I cannot accept his evidence,” Gibb said in court.

She said despite the language barrier, she found the girl was unshaken during cross examination. Gibb said she accepts the girl’s testimony that Kolosnjaji lifted her chin for a kiss and then commented on her eyes.

Church told about allegation of abuse six years before priest became Bishop of Swansea and Brecon

An allegation of abuse against a priest appeared to have been made six years before he became the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.

The Church in Wales was made aware of a complaint about priest Anthony Pierce's conduct against a person believed to be under the age of 18, in 1993.

He was later elected as Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in 1999 and served until 2008.

In a letter to the Diocses, the current Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Lomas said, "We know that in 1993 another discourse was made in relation to the conduct of Anthony Pierce".

The allegation against Pierce was reported to police 17 years later, in 2010.

However, South Wales Police were unable to investigate the claims because the alleged victim had died.

This allegation has come to light after Pierce pleaded guilty in February of this year to multiple counts of sexually abusing a child at Swansea Crown Court, in a separate case.

The Church in Wales has launched a review into Pierce's appointment, which it says "seeks to establish who within the Church received relevant information, and what they did with it."

In early February 2025, Anthony Pierce pleaded guilty at Swansea Crown Court to abuse in the 1980s whilst he was a parish priest in the West Cross area of Swansea.

Pierce, who was the Bishop between 1999 and 2008, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault on a boy under 16 years of age when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court.

Since then, it has emerged the Church was aware of a separate allegation of abuse against him made in 1993.

The allegation was passed to South Wales Police in 2010, seventeen years after it was made.

In a statement, the force said, "Sadly, in this specific case the victim had passed away in 2010 when allegations were made of abuse taking place in 1993.

"Therefore we are not able to progress the investigation”.

The Church in Wales has launched a review into "the handling of an allegation of abuse against the Right Reverend Anthony Pierce, first reported in 1993."

The Chair of the Church in Wales Safeguarding Committee has appointed an "independent lay person" to carry out the review.

It added, "The Reviewer is not asked to review matters concerning an allegation against Mr Pierce reported to the Church in Wales Safeguarding Team and South Wales Police in 2023."

Knife stabbed in door and stained-glass window smashed in awful church attack

Residents in a Nottinghamshire village have been left upset after a historic church was vandalised in an "appalling" attack. 

Offenders smashed through a stained-glass window to get inside St Mary and St Martin's Church on Sheffield Road, Blyth.

Several artefacts were damaged during the attack at the Grade I listed church. 

This includes an effigy of a knight dating back to the 13th century, which was damaged after bricks were dropped on it.

A knife was also stabbed into the wooden door leading to the church bell tower. 

Graffiti was scrawled on the walls, cash was taken and several items of religious literature were also damaged.

The break-in took place at some point between 7pm on Thursday, February 20, and 2pm on Sunday, February 23. 

The church's origins date back to 1088, with the site being one of the oldest examples of Norman architecture in the country.

The incident is now being investigated as a "heritage crime". These crimes are defined by Historic England as any offence which harms the value of heritage assets and their settings.

Officers have asked for the public's help and are looking to speak to anyone holding information about or CCTV footage of the incident. 

Inspector Rob Harrison, district commander for Bassetlaw, said: "This was an appalling attack on a beautiful and historic building which has understandably upset people in the village.

"We are determined to trace those responsible and believe the public could have an important part to play. The church and its grounds are frequently visited by people and we’d ask if you passed by and noticed anything which could assist our investigation to please get in touch.

Female priests ‘may happen’ according to Kilkenny clergyman

Local priest and National Vocations Director, Fr Willie Purcell has claimed the introduction of female and married priests into the catholic church ‘may happen’ in the decades to come.

According to figures released in 2024, the number of priests and members of religious orders in Ireland dropped by 70% since 1970. Meanwhile, since 2021, more than 25% of priests in Ireland have died.

Nevertheless, Fr Purcell, who completed his religious studies in the St Kieran’s Seminary, is hopeful of an increase in numbers despite the seemingly bleak outlook, but does believe things may get worse before they get better.

“Things will get more difficult, not just in Kilkenny but nationally and internationally.

“Now we’re talking about priests who have to cover four/five parishes,” he said, adding, “it’s so important people in parishes get involved to assist their priest and believe it or not, they’re not just alleviating the work, they’re encouraging the priest because he knows he has their support.”

But despite present challenges, Fr Purcell doesn’t anticipate radical changes any time soon.

“It (female priests) is not something that is going to happen in my lifetime but it is a discussion that has been going on for centuries,” the Clara parish priest said.

“I think it may happen eventually because in the early church there was women deacons,” he remarked, adding, “it’s a historical question that will not be resolved in the present time but may be resolved in the future.”

Fr Purcell also suggested allowing married priests into the vocation could be a possibility in the generations to come, but it will be a complex and timely process.

“It’s a total commitment, a life commitment solely to the people you’re called to serve and the people of God become your family. I think married priests will be way down the line equally as much as women priests.”

But despite the challenges the priesthood faces, Fr Purcell is adamant their role is still important in the community. 

"I think we're living in a very different world, everything can change in a matter of a second. You can go online, swipe right or swipe left and everything can change or you can switch on or off very easily. When I joined the Priesthood it was a lifetime commitment 

"It's a lifetime commitment that you make but things you give up there are other benefits that come to place and those benefits are varied. The Priest is still a key person in every community, if somebody gets sick the Priest is there, if somebody is in trouble the Priest is called, if there's a death the Priest is called, so the Priest is still a key person in the community and therefore still has an important role."

Vatican says Pope Francis continues to improve but prognosis remains guarded

Pope Francis continues to improve from double pneumonia, the Vatican has said, though doctors said he needs more days of “clinical stability” before they revise their guarded prognosis.

The 88-year-old was able to begin alternating high-flow supplemental oxygen, delivered by a nasal tube, with a mask in a sign of his improved respiratory condition, the Vatican said in a late update.

For the second day in a row, doctors did not say Francis was in critical condition.

But they said that given the complexity of his lung infection, “further days of clinical stability are needed” before they declare he is out of danger.

Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since February 14.

Battling for the Soul of the Church

Is the character and identity of the Catholic Church best described by juxtaposing “the people of God” to “a monarchical line of popes”? Were Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI really opposed to “the spirit of Vatican II”? Did Pedro Arrupe, the former superior general of the Jesuits, “turn the order around”? Did the revelations of clerical sexual abuse cause “millions” to leave the Church? Did Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in terris help end the Cold War?

All these assertions are made by the journalist and author Mary Jo McConahay in her New York Times review of Philip Shenon’s Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church. 

I have not read Shenon’s book, which, as McConahay describes it, is a familiar rehash of battles between so-called reformers and so-called traditionalists over the legacy of Vatican II. Evidently, Shenon also thinks the Church’s handling of sexual abuse by priests, bishops, and the papacy is still the defining issue of Catholicism. “Nothing is spared,” McConahay writes, “in recounting their odious criminal acts and the cowardly machinations of the church’s leadership to hide them.”

No one doubts how odious those acts were or how cowardly and clueless the Church’s leaders often turned out to be when faced with abuse allegations. But it has now been more than twenty years since the U.S. bishops adopted their Dallas Charter, and there is good reason to believe that the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests is no longer the threat it once was, at least in the United States. Was the abuse crisis terrible? Of course. 

But a book about the Catholic Church’s modern history that places clerical sexual abuse at its center and suggests that nothing important has changed is anachronistic and misleading. 

McConahay depicts the battles over Vatican II as a simple fight between those who want the Church to “effect change and let fresh air in” and those who want to keep the windows firmly shut. She and, apparently, Shenon believe Pope Francis represents the “continuation of Vatican II,” while John Paul and Benedict were determined to obstruct implementation of the council. 

But Vatican II was a far more complicated event than McConahay’s review indicates. She mentions its outreach to other Christian Churches and other religions but not its unambiguous Christocentrism. The council’s welcome emphasis on the priesthood of all the baptized did not keep it from upholding episcopal hierarchy and papal supremacy. These sorts of tensions and paradoxes run throughout the council’s documents. 

While it is fair to say that Vatican II lifted the Church out of the defensive crouch it had been stuck in since the French Revolution, one can easily exaggerate its innovations and departures from tradition. 

McConahay depicts the battles over Vatican II as a simple fight between those who want the Church to “effect change and let fresh air in” and those who want to keep the windows firmly shut. 

The council underscored that the clergy and the laity have different but complementary roles and responsibilities. It is not necessary to choose, as McConahay implies, between the people of God and the pope. Nor is it true that John Paul and Benedict were opposed in any fundamental sense to Vatican II. 

Both, in fact, had serious roles at the council. When it comes to Fr. Arrupe turning the Jesuits around, I’m not sure what exactly McConahay has in mind. Yes, Arrupe imbued the order with a new regard for the poor. But is the Society of Jesus thriving? I’ve known some wonderful Jesuits and was for several years the grateful beneficiary of the order’s hospitality. But there is no denying that, at least in the United States, the Jesuits—like many other religious orders—are in decline. 

As for McConahay’s claim about Pacem in terris, a wise and valuable document, it’s highly unlikely that any papal encyclical hastened the end of the Cold War. For that, we can mainly thank Soviet corruption and incompetence. Nor is it obvious that sexual-abuse revelations are the principal reason millions have left the Church. Surveys suggest that most left for other, often more mundane reasons. 

To her credit, McConahay does take issue with the way Shenon emphasizes disputes over Church teaching about sexual morality, noting that sex is mentioned or alluded to on 400 of his book’s 514 pages. “The reader might think that sex,” she writes, “is the main preoccupation of the modern church.” Yet she then adds, “Weary Catholics may agree.” So, the reader may ask, is Shenon right or wrong to give the subject so much attention?

One thing that wearies this Catholic are articles and book reviews in the New York Times that fail to challenge its readers’ negative assumptions about Catholicism. In that regard, it is not surprising that the only mention of Jesus in McConahay’s review has to do with Shenon’s title, which imagines Jesus weeping over sexual abuse. What goes conspicuously unmentioned is what the Church professes about Jesus and why that matters to the millions of Catholics who have not left the Church. At Mass the day I read McConahay’s review, the second reading was from 1 Corinthians. 

As it happens, that Mass was being offered for my former dentist, who had died a few weeks before. I hadn’t seen him in years but remember him fondly. In the reading, St. Paul reminds us that “[i]f the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain; you are still in your sins.” If you are looking for the soul of the Church, and what keeps people coming back to Mass week after week, look there.

Like all human institutions, the Church has often failed. But it is more than its failures, and much more than the endless quarrels over Vatican II or the papacy or sexual morality. It is first and foremost about the belief that “Christ has been raised,” and that those who “have fallen asleep in Christ”—a lovely phrase—will also be raised to new life. 

“If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all,” St. Paul concludes. That remains the heart of the faith after Vatican II, Humanae vitae, and the sexual-abuse crisis, seismic as these were. That the Gospel comes first is something about which Popes Francis and John XXIII, the heroes of Shenon’s book, and Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, its villains, would all have agreed.

As Dissenters Exit, Christian Reformed Church Resists Same-Sex Affirmation

While more than a few U.S.-based churches are proceeding to affirm same-sex rites and abandon standards of sexual conduct for clergy, the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) is drawing firm boundaries, prompting theological revisionists to begin to depart the denomination.

A confessional church from the Dutch Reformed tradition, the CRC requires all officebearers (ministers, elders and deacons) to affirm that the CRC statements of faith (the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort) fully agree with the Word of God.

The CRC annual meetings, called synods, have held firm to the biblical and historic Christian position on marriage and sexuality despite a decade-long push to affirm same-sex behavior. Synod 1973 adopted a comprehensive report on homosexuality, concluding that “homosexual acts are sinful” and “Sex relations outside of marriage are forbidden in the Scriptures.”

An ideology rooted in atheism slowly began to insert itself into Christian circles, including in the CRC, where a group called All One Body began advocating for full inclusion of LGBTQ sexuality in the church in 2011. 

In 2020, Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan decided that the 1973 report was merely “pastoral advice” and therefore not mandatory. Neland Avenue CRC ordained a deacon living in a same-sex marriage. Following Neland Avenue’s action, a group of CRC pastors and leaders formed The Abide Project to stand for the biblical and historical position on marriage and sexuality in the CRC.

Synod Decisions

Votes at Synod 2022 were overwhelmingly on the side of orthodoxy. Synod recommended the Human Sexuality Report to the churches. The report was the cumulation of a five-year project involving scholars from multiple fields and held to an historically orthodox position on marriage and sexuality. 

By a vote of 123-53-2 synod affirmed that when the Heidelberg Catechism condemns “unchastity,” this includes “adultery, premarital sex, extra-marital sex, polyamory, pornography and homosexual sex.” 

As such, this understanding had “confessional status” and was binding on all officebearers. Synod 2022 also instructed Neland Avenue CRC to remove the deacon in a same-sex marriage by a vote of 134-43-1.

Revisionists in the CRC did not accept the outcome. Neland Avenue decided to defy synod’s directives and refuse to remove the deacon in a same-sex marriage. Many more congregations publicly stated they were adopting an open and affirming policy. 

A “Frequently Asked Questions” was released by headquarters that assumed Neland Avenue’s understanding of the 1973 report by saying Synod 2022 “raises the level of agreement expected” of officebearers. The FAQ said officebearers who disagreed with Synod 2022 could simply file an exception or “gravamen” and “would be considered officebearers in good standing.” 

Another group emerged, calling itself “Better Together: A Third Way.” Their board included many well-known CRC leaders and their goal was to make same-sex marriage a matter for local churches to decide for themselves.

Instead of backtracking, Synod 2023 once again affirmed that “unchastity” includes “homosexual sex” and this has “confessional status.” Synod 2023 also rejected Neland Avenue’s appeal and again instructed the congregation to comply with the CRC position.

Revisionist resistance continued. Better Together: Third Way released a template for church councils to protest synod decisions of the last two years. Several of those protests would be sent to Synod 2024. More CRC congregations publicly adopted open and affirming policies that All One Body published.

Synod 2024 maintained the course of the prior synods with overwhelming votes. Synod voted 137 to 47 (74.5%) that gravamina (complaints as the basis of a legal action) “are not meant, nor should be used as an exception to the confessions.” Synod voted 134 to 50 to instruct churches that have publicly contradicted synod decisions “on unchastity to repent and to honor their covenant commitments to the CRCNA.” 

The same resolution said, “all office-bearers from churches in non-compliance, by actions or in any form of media, be placed on a limited suspension” where officebearers could not be delegated to synod or to regional meetings of classis.

Departures

Following Synod 2024, theological revisionists have begun to exit the CRC. Multiple congregations have made moves to depart, some by public announcement of intent to leave and some by officially submitting disaffiliation requests to their regional body of classis.

Religion News Service reported “at least two dozen churches” were in the disaffiliation process due to an “increasingly rigid stance on sexuality.” With nearly 1,000 congregations, this represents a small minority of the CRC. 

However, certain classes have seen significant departures. Classis Chicago South had 7 of their 17 congregations begin disaffiliation. Classis Grand Rapids East so far has 9 of 18 seeking disaffiliation. Christianity Today reported on the departure of First CRC Grand Rapids, one of the four original CRCs from when it began in 1857.

Prominent figures have resigned their positions, including CRC agency Thrive co-director Chris Schoon as well as Kathy Smith, the church order professor at Calvin Seminary.

On January 15, 2025, the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto voted to sever its ties with the CRC as a denominationally-related educational institution.

On February 18, 33 CRC ministers joined the Reformed Church in America, a sister denomination that is more flexible on LGBTQ practices. 

Chris Schoon and Kathy Smith were among those accepted in a ceremony at The Community Church in Ada, Michigan.

Different Accounts

Different narratives have emerged about the CRC in recent years. Most of the words are from the disgruntled. Synod 2022 was labeled by revisionists as a “coup.” A resigning Council of Delegates member said the recent synods are a “new direction.” A prominent CRC minister called Synod’s decisions “reckless, arbitrary, and unimaginable in any other age.”

“The votes were never in doubt and everyone knew it,” wrote a progressive delegate to Synod 2024. “A well-organized movement called Abide had been meeting and strategizing for several years now.”

One CRC minister declared the last three synods to follow the “playbook” of “other right wing takeovers.” 

That is, “introduce a wedge issue, hold up this wedge issue as a matter of denominational integrity, and then use the wedge issue to drive out from the denomination anyone who differs from those who are trying to gain control.”

“The Babylonians have struck. The denomination has been plundered,” blogged one progressive CRC pastor.

Pope Francis: why his papacy matters for Africa – and for the world’s poor and marginalised

Pope Francis remains in a critical condition and hospitalised as he battles pneumonia in both lungs. 

The first pope from the Americas and also the first to come from outside the west in the modern era, the Argentinian was elected leader of the Catholic church on 13 March 2013. 

At the time, the church was beset by crises, from corruption to clerical sexual abuse. 

Stan Chu Ilo, a Catholic priest and a research professor of African studies and world Catholicism, examines the milestones in the life, work and legacy of Pope Francis.

What did Pope Francis inherit when he took over in 2013?

By the time the Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected pope in 2013 there was a general feeling that the Catholic church was reaching the end of an era.

By the end of 2012 what was in the news about the church included the revelation of papal secrets by the papal butler. 

These details were published in a book by the Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, titled His Holiness: The Secret Files of Pope Benedict. The book portrayed the Vatican as a corrupt hotbed of jealousy, intrigue and underhanded factional fighting.

The revelations caused the church a great deal of embarrassment.

Some of the challenges facing the church which the ageing Pope Benedict XVI could no longer handle included:

• the readmission of a Holocaust denying bishop into the church

• mounting evidence of corruption in the Vatican Bank

• multiple cases of clerical sexual abuse in many parts of the world

• the confusion created in the English-speaking world with the translation of the New Roman missal into English.

Cardinal Bergoglio was elected by the Catholic cardinals with a mandate to clean up the church and reform the Vatican and its bureaucracy. He was to institute processes and procedures for transparency, accountability and renewal of the church and its structures, and address the lingering scandals of clerical abuse.

What is his global papal role and legacy?

Three key things have defined his papal role and legacy.

First is concentrating on the core competence of the church: serving the poor and the marginalised. This is what the founder of the Christian religion, Jesus Christ, did.

Francis has focused the Catholic church and the entire world on one mission: helping the poor, addressing global inequalities, speaking for the voiceless, and placing the attention of the world on those on the periphery.

He also chose to live simply, forsaking the pomp and pageantry of the papacy.

Secondly, he changed the way the Catholic church’s message is communicated. In his programmatic document, Evangelii Gaudium, he called the church to what he calls “missionary conversion”. His thinking is that everything that is done in the church must be about proclaiming the good news to a wounded and broken world.

His central message has been that of mercy towards all, an end to wars, our common humanity and the closeness of God to those who suffer. The suffering in the world continues to grow because of injustice, greed, selfishness and pride. 

He has also focused on symbols and simple style to press home his message, like celebrating mass at a wall that divides the United States and Mexico.

In 2015 he made a risky trip to Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic, during a time of war and tension between the fighting factions of the Muslim Seleka and the Christian anti-balaka. 

He drove on the Popemobile with both the highest ranking Muslim cleric in the country and his Christian counterpart and visited both a Christian church and a mosque to press home the message of peace.

The third strategy is restructuring the church and reforming the Vatican bank.

He created the G8 (a representative council of cardinals from every part of the world) to advise him, calling the Catholic church to a synod for dialogue on every aspect of the life of the church. This effort was unprecedented.

He also overhauled the procedures for the synod of bishops, making it more participatory, and gave women and the non-ordained voting rights. He has also shaken up the membership of the Vatican department that picks bishops to include women. 

He appointed the first woman (Sr Simone Brambilla) to lead a major Vatican department and to have a cardinal as her deputy. Another woman (Sr Raffaella Petrini) was named the first woman governor of the Vatican City State.

What has he done to strengthen the Catholic church in Africa?

Three things stand out.

First, he reflected the concerns of people on the continent with his message against imperialism, colonialism, exploitation of the poor by the rich, global inequality, neo-liberal capitalism and ecological injustice. Pope Francis became a voice for Africa. When he visited Kenya in 2015, he chose to visit the slums of Nairobi to proclaim the gospel of liberation to the forsaken of society. He called on African governments to guarantee for the poor and all citizens access to land, lodging and labour.

In a sense, Pope Francis embodies the message of decolonisation and is driven in part by the liberation theology that developed in Latin America. This theology tied religious faith with liberation of the people from structures of injustice and structural violence.

Secondly, he has encouraged African Catholics to develop Africa’s own unique approach to pastoral life and addressing social issues in Africa. Particularly, Pope Francis believes in decentralisation and local processes in meeting local challenges. He has said many times that it is not necessary that all problems in the church be solved by the pope at the Roman centre of the church.

In this way, he has encouraged the growth and development of African priorities and cultural adaptation to the Catholic faith. He has also encouraged greater transparency and accountability among African bishops and given African Catholic universities and seminaries greater autonomy to develop their own educational priorities and programmes.

Thirdly, Pope Francis has a very deep connection to Africa’s young people. He has encouraged and supported initiatives and programmes to strengthen the agency of young people, to give them hope and support their personal, spiritual and professional development. For the first time in history, on 1 November 2022, Pope Francis met virtually with more than 1,000 young Africans for an hour. I helped organise this meeting. He answered their questions and encouraged them to fight for what they believe.

What’s gone wrong, what’s gone well under his watch?

Pope Francis’s reform could be termed a movement from a church of a few where priests and bishops and the pope call the shots to a church of the people of God where everyone’s voice matters and where everyone’s concerns and needs are catered to.

He has quietly changed the tone of the message and the style of the leadership at the Vatican.

Granted, he has not substantially altered the content of that message, which is often seen as conservative, Eurocentric, and resistant to cultural pluralism and social change. But he is chipping away at its foundations through inclusion and an openness to hearing the voices of everyone, including those who do not agree with the church’s position. In doing this, he has shifted the priorities and practices of the Catholic church regarding such core issues as power and authority.

He has opened the doors to the voices of the marginalised in the church — women, the poor, the LGBTQi+ community, and those who have disaffiliated from the church. Many African Catholics would love to see more African representation at the Vatican, and many of them also worry about the widening division in the church, particularly driven by cultural and ideological battles in the west that have nothing to do with the social and ecclesial context of Africa.

Why does his papacy matter?

Pope Francis is the first pope from the Americas, the first Jesuit pope, the first to choose the name Francis and the first to come from outside the west in the modern era. He chose the name Francis because he wanted to focus his papacy on the poor, emulating St Francis of Assisi.

In a sense, Pope Francis has redefined what religion and spirituality mean for Catholicism. It’s not laying down and enforcing the law without mercy, it is caring for our neighbours and the Earth. This is the kind of religion the world needs today.

Pope Health Update

Pope Francis slept well during the night and continued to rest on Thursday morning, as his condition has shown a slight improvement over the past couple of days.

On Wednesday evening, the Holy See Press Office said the Pope’s health condition had slightly improved over the previous 24 hours.

“The mild kidney insufficiency observed in recent days has subsided,” read a statement. “A chest CT scan carried out [on Tuesday] night showed a normal progression of the lung inflammation. Blood tests conducted [on Wednesday] confirmed the improvement seen [Tuesday].”

Pope Francis remains on high-flow oxygen therapy, but as of Wednesday evening he had not experienced any asthma-like respiratory crises.

The Pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Friday, February 14, following a bout of bronchitis, with his doctors later diagnosing bilateral pneumonia.

Former atheist excited at prospect of being bishop

A former atheist has been consecrated as a bishop during a service led by the Archbishop of York.

The Reverend Canon Dave Bull was announced as the new Bishop of Buckingham during a service on Thursday.

In an interview with BBC Three Counties Radio in December, the Bishop of Buckingham, Bishop Bull said he was an atheist until his mid-20s.

He described the task ahead as an "exciting prospect".

The service was held at Canterbury Cathedral, where two reverends were consecrated, meaning they were formally dedicated to religious service.

His appointment follows the unexpected death of the Right Reverend Dr Alan Wilson in February last year, who had served in the role for more than 20 years.

During an interview on BBC Three Counties Radio on Thursday, he said: "It feels like an enormous privilege to be invited to lead the whole county.

"It feels a bit daunting, I will be honest with you, it is quite a big step to take."

He added: "One thing I think I bring is that I have, until today, been a vicar in a small town, in touch, if you'd like, with local communities."

Bishop Bull said he realised in his mid-20s that "there was something missing" in his life.

"I believe that everyone at some point in their life explores spiritual questions and faith," he added.

Bull studied at Worcester College, Oxford, and trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall in the city.

In 2009 he was ordained as a priest and was appointed area dean of Wycombe in 2016.

Pope Health Update

On Wednesday evening, the Holy See Press Office provided the following update on Pope Francis' health: 

"The Holy Father's condition has shown a slight further improvement over the past 24 hours. The mild kidney insufficiency observed in recent days has subsided. A chest CT scan carried out last night showed a normal progression of the lung inflammation. Blood tests conducted today confirmed the improvement seen yesterday.

The Holy Father remains on high-flow oxygen therapy but has not experienced any asthma-like respiratory episodes today. Respiratory physiotherapy is continuing. Despite the slight improvement, his prognosis remains guarded.

This morning, the Holy Father received the Eucharist, and in the afternoon, he resumed his work."

Power struggles and proxy wars at the Church of England’s General Synod

The Church of England’s General Synod met last week for the first time since the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned and the Bishop of Liverpool retired in response to concerns over safeguarding and allegations of abuse within the Church. 

Recent meetings of the General Synod have been dominated by debate over Living in Love and Faith, a churchwide process aimed at charting a way forward on issues related to LGBT-inclusion in the Church of England. 

Below Fr. Charlie Bell, an Anglican priest and member of the Synod, discusses the ways in which the years of intense debate surrounding Living in Love and Faith have colored (and to an extent poisoned) other conversations within the Synod and the wider Church, including efforts at improving safeguarding. He also shares how legitimate concerns around safeguarding have been weaponized against advocates for greater inclusion in the Church of England. —-The Wheel Editors

The General Synod of the Church of England met in London a few weeks ago, and as ever, it was anything but plain sailing. 

In the weeks leading up to the Synod, the church had been mired in increasingly murky scandals ostensibly relating to safeguarding but often also acting as clandestine proxies for matters of sexuality and gender that are never far from the surface of Anglican disagreements. 

Distasteful as it is, it seems that even safeguarding vulnerable adults and young people has become an acceptable tool in these increasingly desperate fights – prior to General Synod, reasonable concerns about the responses by some in the hierarchy to matters of both clergy discipline and safeguarding had been very unhelpfully – but often rather subtly – weaponized so that whilst senior figures were facing fire on poor safeguarding practice, this was often tinged with other complaints, most of which related to perceived ‘liberalism’ on same-sex relationships.

Not only is this dishonest, but it is deeply problematic from a Christian perspective too – “let your yes be yes, and your no be no” (Matthew 5:37) coming to mind on more than one occasion. It does a grotesque disservice to victims and survivors of abuse to use their situation and their anger to “bring down” senior figures for entirely different reasons, and yet it seems that where same-sex relationships are concerned, no political machination is off the table. Of course, in the process, genuine concerns about safeguarding get left by the wayside – but it seems that, for some, this is acceptable collateral. For a church that is called to speak the truth in love, it felt to me – at least – that there was precious little of either in the run up to or the behavior within the Synod itself.

The five days were a deeply unpleasant affair – these gatherings have increasingly had the feel of a party-political fracas, with various political groupings whipping their members, and where truth becomes the casualty of political expediency. 

This February’s version was no exception – and this time the sheer willingness of people to say one thing and mean another was unparalleled. Hyperbole, too, was on the rise, with changes to standing orders being compared to the behavior in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe or Apartheid South Africa – comparisons which would be ludicrous if they weren’t so offensive. 

The General Synod has gotten itself into a place where ‘bash the bishops’ has become an Olympic sport, and this, too, is a proxy for disagreement over the ‘Prayers of Love and Faith’, a modest proposal to allow clergy to offer prayers for individuals in same-sex relationships. It is well known that the House of Bishops (containing all the diocesan bishops, and indeed the wider College too, which includes all serving bishops) is in modest favor of greater inclusive practice within the church, and it is clear that there is an increasingly loud and vicious campaign being waged against those perceived to be “liberals.”

In this Synod, that took a number of forms. It was present in the safeguarding debate itself – it was notable, indeed, that most of those calling for the head of the Archbishop of York over safeguarding failures all voted against the clear call of victims and survivors, independent experts, the lead bishop for safeguarding, the Bishop of London, and the Archbishop of York, for fully independent safeguarding. 

Yet it was also present throughout other debates. Moves to reduce the influence of powerful conservative factions within the church were all opposed on the grounds of needing to “pay attention to power,” suggesting that the bishops were all powerful and the wealthy, authoritarian conservative groupings were somehow “powerless” – an astonishing attempt at deception.

Pope Francis out of bed after 'peaceful night' amid battle with pneumonia

POPE FRANCIS, WHO was has been in critical condition for days, is up and out of bed, the Vatican has said in an update.

The 88-year-old has been battling pneumonia in both lungs.

He was admitted to the hospital on 14 February with breathing difficulties, after which his condition deteriorated.

After suffering respiratory attacks at the weekend that required high levels of oxygen and blood transfusions, the Vatican has said the pope’s condition has stabilised, but he remains in a critical condition.

The pontiff, now in his 13th day at the hospital, is “sitting in a chair, and continuing with the treatment as normal” today, a Vatican source told AFP.

A brief official update from the Holy See earlier said he had “passed a peaceful night and is resting”.

A medical bulletin on Tuesday evening said the Argentine pontiff’s “clinical condition remains critical but stable”.

“There have been no acute respiratory episodes and haemodynamic parameters continue to be stable,” the Vatican said, referring to measurements such as heart rate and blood pressure.

Francis had a new scan “in the evening for radiological monitoring of bilateral pneumonia”, the Vatican said. “The prognosis remains reserved,” it added.

Catholics have been flocking to the Vatican and the Gemelli to pray for Francis, and there will be a fresh round of prayers held in St Peter’s Square this evening.