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Religion and Society

  • 14 Mar 2013
    Archbishop Welby seeks positive relations with new Pope

    The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has offered his "warmest welcome" to the former Cardinal Bergoglio on his election as Pope Francis.

  • 14 Mar 2013
    World and regional church bodies greet Pope Francis

    The head of the World Council of Churches has sent greetings and an assurance of continuing engagement with the Catholic Church in the era of Pope Francis I.

  • 13 Mar 2013
    "Francis, go repair my house": papal advice from a saint?

    Others will also recall it now, but I am grateful to Mark Chater, director of Culham St Gabriel's Trust in Oxford, for reminding me of one of the most significant sayings said to have been received from Christ by St Francis of Assisi: "Francis, go repair my house which, as you see, is falling completely to ruin."

  • 13 Mar 2013
    Analysis: What can we expect from Pope Francis I?

    The election of Argentinian Cardinal-Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, to be Pope Francis I is historic in four senses. The new pontiff is the first non-European to be Bishop of Rome for a millennium, the first Jesuit, the first from Latin America, and the first with deep origins in the industrial working class.

  • 13 Mar 2013
    A 'religious pope': what difference it could make for the Catholic Church

    Unsurprisingly, the Jesuits are celebrating tonight that one of their own has become the first member of the Society of Jesus to be elected pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

  • 13 Mar 2013
    Pope Francis, from Argentina, is introduced to the world

    The man who will be the next leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics is Jorge Mario Bergoglio SJ, Cardinal-Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

  • 13 Mar 2013
    Benefits and bishops: What IDS didn't say

    I have often been critical of the Church of England’s leadership for being slow to speak out on issues of economic justice. I’m therefore delighted that 43 CofE bishops have criticised the coalition for cutting benefits (or technically, for raising them by one percent, which is below the rate of inflation and therefore a cut in all but name).

  • 13 Mar 2013
    Methodist churches conduct safeguarding review to boost safety

    The Methodist Church is undertaking a comprehensive review of every safeguarding matter it has dealt with over the past 60 years to learn lessons from the past.

  • 13 Mar 2013
    Solidarity expressed with Christians after attacks in Pakistan

    The head of the World Council of Churches has strongly condemned attacks on Christians in Badami Bagh, Lahore, on Saturday 10 March.

  • 13 Mar 2013
    Waiting on the Conclave: is laughter the best medicine?

    As black smoke continued to rise above the Sistine Chapel earlier today, and as speculation bubbled in inverse proportion to the amount of information coming out of the Vatican about the papal conclave (that is, given the secrecy surrounding it, virtually none), journalists were faced with the task of finding something to do to 'keep the story alive'.