The #ArchbishopofCanterbury has issued a statement in solidarity with the #Pope, whose repeated calls for peace in the #MiddleEast and elsewhere have been criticisied by President #Trump #PopevsTrump

A former #churchwarden, Benjamin Field, who was sentenced in 2019 to life for the murder of a teacher and fellow churchgoer, had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal on Thursday #PeterFarquhar #BenjaminField #churchnews #churchtimes

The Governing Body of the #ChurchinWales has voted overwhelmingly to make its liturgy for the blessing of #samesexmarriages and #civilpartnerships, trialled for the past five years, permanent, by incorporating it into the Welsh Book of Common Prayer

A new programme that uses popular school-assembly songs to inspire worshipping communities seeks to “double the number of children and young people as active disciples by 2030” #iSingPOP #schoolassembly #churchtimes #churchnews

The leaders of #FreeChurches in the UK have raised the alarm about the Government’s move to require the police to consider previous and planned protests in the same area when deciding whether to impose conditions on a demonstration #churchnews #churchtimes

Wiltshire Police “have been contacted by the Church of England regarding allegations of fraud” and an investigation is ongoing, the force confirmed this week #churchnews #churchtimes

The Church is no different from any other charity or branch of social services unless social action and the Easter message are held together, the #ArchbishopofWales told the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, meeting this week #ChurchinWales

The #Pope has defended himself against angry remarks by President #Trump, after the US President claimed that the American Pontiff owed his election to him #popevstrump #churchnews #churchtimes

Anthony Knight has toured hundreds of churches across the UK and Europe, playing the violin and raising funds for charity 🎻⛪ James Macintyre meets him #violin #churches #churchmusic #churchnews #churchtimes

One of the #astronauts on the #ArtemisII space mission, Victor Glover, thanked God after the crew touched down safely on Friday 🚀 🌌 #spacemission #churchnews #churchtimes

Gerry Lynch reviews A Broken Order, Life Changing, and BBC Inside Science 📻 #Radio #review #Nuns #Bruges #Tehran #ArtemisII 🚀

Jayne Manfredi reviews Pilgrimage: The road to Holy Island and Harry Clark Goes to Rome 📺 #TV #review #Pilgrimage #HarryClark #Rome

“In the current election campaign the relationship between faith and politics is more complicated” On 20 March 2026, Alexander Faludy assessed the place of #religion in the Hungary election - read it here 👇 #hungary #hungaryelection

Cally Hammond reflects on the lectionary readings for 19 April 📖 #sundaysreadings #lectionaryreadings #lectionary #churchtimes

"Prayer, as this book attempts to show, is more than something that we do: it is something that we become." 📚 Dominic Walker on one path to prayerful living #prayer #books #bookreview

"This is a forceful book with a serious message." 📚 Robin Gill reviews 'Shaping a Church of Ethical Integrity: Groundwork for a Church rebuilt' by Paul Avis

"Gardens do matter — good authority says that God planted one, which the Fall made paradise lost" #Easter brings Charles Moseley green thoughts 🌱

In this week's Notebook, Claire Gilbert ✍️ on feedback on her novel, observing Lent, and the energy cost of AI

"The question cannot simply be whether the Church is doing enough, but whether it is responding to the right conditions — and to the way in which poverty itself has changed." As institutions thin, presence becomes more important, says Stephen Hunt

"The central contention of the authors is that salvation includes sanctification, and that good works are a means by which God sanctifies us. That makes good works integral to how God saves us." 📚 Andrew Davison reviews The Doctrine of Good Works

#Easter is here, and our Church Times Train-A-Priest (TAP) Fund remains open for donations Read more 👇 #trainapriest

"The attraction to me is its austerity. I admit to preferring my Christianity warm and preferably well-padded. St Aldhelm’s is not that." #holyplaces Paul Handley reflects on a chapel that is close to the edge of a cliff on the Dorset coast

In a postscript to our Lent series, Timothy Larsen explains how C. S. Lewis’s wardrobe ended up in the American Midwest #CSLewis

"The practice of faith opens me up to the totality of things, to what it means to hope in God, and to see in the resurrection of Christ the destiny of all reality," ✍️ Angela Tilby

"Life continued, and, over time, my grief softened, becoming something almost linear, shaped by gratitude for the years that we had shared." #Faith Bethany Philbrick reflects on faith, #grief, and endurance

"Atherstone brings a balanced objectivity concerning the controversial issues with which the Archbishop has had to deal." 📚Nick Goulding reviews a full-length biography of Archbishop Mullally #ArchbishopOfCanterbury #SarahMullally #books #biography

"The Communion is currently fractured and dysfunctional, but, if the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals were accepted, the Communion would not be a 'communion' at all," ✍️ Paul Avis #AnglicanCommunion #Anglicanism

"#AtermisII Pilot Victor Glover is a Christian who is very public about his faith, as many in NASA are. It has been refreshing seeing the Christian faith alongside such an optimistic vision for humanity’s future." Read this week's Letters to the Editor ⬇️

#Art Nicholas Cranfield sees the Caxton exhibition 🎨

Artwork and mining memorabilia related to a clergyman born in 1926, who was called up as a “Bevin Boy” to work in a coalmine at the age of 18 and was later involved in industrial mission, are on show at Cusworth Hall Museum, in #Doncaster.

“An ongoing financial audit is being undertaken following allegations of potential financial irregularities in relation to two separate funds.”

The Bishop in Cyprus & the Gulf, the Rt Revd Sean Semple, has said that six weeks of conflict have “left people deeply traumatised”, and that uninterrupted sleep is “a remembered luxury”, after recent visits to the eight countries in his diocese.

The Bishop of Meath & Kildare, the Most Revd Patricia Storey, is to retire on 31 July next year Read more UK news in brief ⬇️

After years of chaos in the diocese of #Haiti, including arrests of senior clergy and lay people in connection with alleged arms-dealing, the diocese has broken its silence to call for a full investigation and the release of churchpeople from custody.

Church leaders in #Hungary have appealed for calm before Sunday’s bitterly fought election, in which Viktor Orbán’s national-conservative Fidesz Party faces the likelihood of defeat after 16 years in power.

“I bring with me my experience, my gifts, and my skills, the desire to be a pastor, somebody to care, somebody who wants to speak of the Christian hope and offer hospitality, even in difference. That’s how I’m going to inhabit the role.” #ArchbishopofCanterbury

A declaration eaimed at preventing “the political exploitation of religion where it leads to discrimination” was issued last month after a conference in the House of Commons.

A sculptor who is making a bronze bust of the Archbishop of Cape Town, Dr Thabo Makgoba, listens while he works to online recordings of his subject’s church services, to refresh his sense of the Archbishop’s character and manner.

The Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, has warned that his country’s ecosystem is being destroyed by Russian air strikes.

Christian agencies, the United Nations, and the papal nuncio to #Lebanon have condemned the Israeli attacks on the country, which were carried out, killing hundreds, despite the ceasefire between the United States and Iran brokered on Tuesday.

"The sight of the earth, fragile and bright in the deep velvety darkness of space, inspires an awe which prompts thoughts about the meaning of existence." Space travel inspires awe and alters priorities, writes Paul Vallely

"As this work progresses, it will reinforce for us the 'why' of our absolute commitment to the highest standards of safeguarding practice, reminding us that safeguarding is rooted in the very essence of what it means to be the Church," ✍️ Robert Springett, the new lead bishop for #safeguarding

The latest issue of the Church Times is out today 🗞️ In the news: Archbishop Mullally gave her first Easter Day sermon in Canterbury Cathedral

"Given the recent safeguarding crisis in the Church, and the rise of authoritarian governments around the world, we encounter Jenkins here at his most provocative — and prophetic." 📚John Saxbee welcomes an appreciation of David Jenkins’s thought

A vicar who fosters rabbits for a national pet charity has urged people to consider providing temporary homes for animals 🐰

The Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Stephen Lake, has stepped back voluntarily as diocesan while a financial audit takes place, and has also resigned as a trustee of the Church Commissioners, the Church Times has learned.

Nicholas Cranfield reviews The Crown of Thorns: Humble gods and humiliated kings by Faith Tibble 📚 #Bookreview #churchtimes #churchnews

The Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Stephen Lake, has stepped back voluntarily as diocesan while a financial audit takes place, and has also resigned as a trustee of the Church Commissioners, the Church Times has learned

Lyle Dennen reviews Exploring Spirit: Finding what matters in a broken world by Giles Goddard 📚 #Bookreviews #churchtimes #churchnews

‘She makes these songs her prayers, to shine light in dark times’ Peter Barrett listens to Mavis Staples, now 86 #MavisStaples #music #musicreview #churchtimes