Paula Vennells, ex CEO of the Post Office, “shortlisted to be Bishop of London”
The BBC has an exclusive story that the former CEO of the Post Office, Paula Vennells, who is also an ordained priest, was shortlisted in 2017 to be the Bishop of London, one of the top four bishops in the Church of England. This is despite the fact that as a non-stipendiary minister, she has never been in charge of a diocese or even a parish. The story by Harry Farley and BBC political correspondent Henry Zeffman, reports their sources saying the Archbishop of Canterbury pushed her application and was seen as a supporter of her. It has also been disclosed that she was among a group of academics, management consultants and business leaders who ran a CofE leadership development programme for bishops in 2016. Yesterday, she said she would return her CBE, something campaigners have urged especially since the ITV drama on the Post Office scandal where 700 people were wrongly prosecuted for financial discrepancies based on information from the software system in place.
RMC briefing – look ahead to religion stories in 2024
Reporters on religion joined our panel to look ahead at the stories likely to make the headlines in 2024. They unpacked headlines such as the way religion will be interwoven in the US and UK election campaigns, response to war in Israel / Gaza and its impact among religious groups here, a split in the Church of England over same sex blessings, Pope Francis and the Rome synod, alongside long running stories on climate change, poverty and freedom of religion. Our panel included our own reporters Tim Wyatt, Catherine Pepinster, Amardeep Bassey and Julia Bicknell, with Madeleine Davies, senior writer, Church Times; Bob Smietana, national reporter for the US Religion News Service; Peter Robertson, senior journalist at Christian Aid; and Paul Bickley, Director of Political Engagement at Theos. View the briefing again on our YouTube channel here
Martin Scorsese making film about Jesus without negatives of organised religion
Martin Scorsese has revealed his intention to make an 80-minute film about Jesus designed to “take away the negatives associated with organised religion”. The Guardian reports that it is an adaptation of A Life of Jesus by a Japanese Catholic writer, Shūsaku Endō, and he was inspired to do it after meeting Pope Francis in 2023. He will start filming this year and says the film will show Jesus’s core teachings in a way that explores the principles but doesn’t proselytise”.
Cardinal in charge of doctrine accused of blasphemy over graphic sex book
The cardinal in charge of the Vatican’s dicastery of faith, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, has been accused of blasphemy from the publication of a book 26 years ago, Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing. It contains graphic accounts of sex and discussion of the “mystical orgasm”, on how divine ecstasy can be experienced spiritually and bodily. The accusation of blasphemy comes from a traditionalist Catholic blog based in Argentina.
River Thames blessed on Epiphany
The priest at the Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Reading, Rev Dr Andreas Andreopoulos, has blessed the River Thames to celebrate the feast of Epiphany. The ceremony involved dangling a wooden cross in the river from a footbridge over the river in Sonning. Reading Chronicle story here
