Justin Welby says “God is green” and Christians must act to save the planet
The Archbishop of Canterbury has written a hard-hitting opinion piece for The Independent on climate change, saying “God is green, and He calls on us to be green”. Justin Welby said human beings have spoiled God’s creation by sin and it is vital to respond to the urgency of the climate emergency: “It dismays me when I hear Christians disputing scientific facts or saying that it is simply God’s problem. That is to misunderstand the awesome responsibility that God entrusted us with in caring for his planet and its people”. He said it was a moral imperative to act and a practical challenge and he quoted the American lawyer and environmentalist Guy Speth: “The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.” His article was published as The Independent prepares to host the Climate 100 event in New York tomorrow, and publishes its inaugural Climate 100 List celebrating the world’s foremost environmentalists.
Pope suffering from mild flu after returning from 12-day visit to south east Asia
The Pope has cancelled a series of appointments due to what the Vatican has described as “mild influenza”, just days after he returned from a 12 day trip to Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. Due to persistent knee pain, the Pope, who is 87, uses a wheelchair. In March last year he was rushed to hospital with fever and treated with antibiotics due to a bout of bronchitis. In December an inflamed lung forced him to cancel a visit to the Cop28 UN climate conference in Dubai. Pope Francis has another visit lined up for later this week. He is due to fly to Luxembourg on Thursday before heading to Belgium, where he will celebrate the 600th anniversary of the country’s Catholic universities. The Vatican said the Popehas skipped meetings yesterday as a “precaution” before the tour.
Albania to create Vatican City style state for Bektashi Muslims
The Albanian prime minister says the Tirana based Bektashi Muslims, an Islamic Sufi order, will be turned into a sovereign state on a 25 acre site, with its own administration, passports and borders, operating in a similar way to Vatican City. The “Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order” will shelter a movement which is an offshoot of Sufism, but has been banned by Turkey in the past and attacked for its liberal approach to faith. Prime Minister Edi Rama said the new State would promote moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, qualities on which the country prides itself. Euronews article here
Christian Aid re-launches Gaza appeal
The international development agency Christian Aid is re-launching its emergency Gaza Appeal nearly a year after the 7 October attacks. It’s asking supporters to give, act and pray, suggesting an online vigil and monthly prayer meeting. The Church of Scotland reports the head of Christian Aid Scotland, Val Brown, saying that Christian Aid partners are providing psychological support, medical relief, food, shelter, sanitation and cash, and the need is vast: “Our supporters have already raised an enormously generous £2.2 million, which has helped us reach more than 800,000 people in Gaza. We recognise that Israelis are suffering trauma too and are working with partners to provide appropriate support”.
26 Christians among hundreds killed in Burkina, west Africa
The human rights organization Christian Solidarity International says that 26 Christians attending church were among hundreds of people killed by Islamist extremists in Burkina, in one of the deadliest attacks in the West African country since the Islamist insurgency began nine years ago. The attacks took place in the towns of Barsalogho in the north and Sanaba in the west in late August. The Sanaba victims were members of a Christian Alliance evangelical church attending a Sunday service. Armed militants separated women and children from the 26 men, then tied their hands and cut their throats, according to a pastor who visited the site afterwards. Last week Human Rights Watch noted that Islamist groups in Burkina Faso have “escalated their attacks on civilians, massacring villagers, displaced people, and Christian worshippers.” Burkina Faso has been battling jihadist groups since 2016. In a coup two years ago, Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power pledging to improve the dire security situation within “two to three months”. However, the violence has only escalated.
Majority of US Hispanics believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research shows that a majority of Hispanic Americans — whether they’re Catholic, Protestant or religiously unaffiliated — believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases. Access to abortion is a key issue in the US presidential election on 5 November. The Democrat candidate, vice president Kamala Harris, strongly supports abortion rights. Her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, boasts about appointments he made to the Supreme Court that led to the repeal of the nationwide right to abortion, but he has said more recently that the court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v Wade means the issue is now left up to voters in individual states. The poll also shows that a majority of US Catholics support abortion-rights, even though the Catholic hierarchy describes opposition to abortion as its pre-eminent priority. Among Hispanics, 40 per cent are Catholic, 33 per cent Protestant or other Christian and 25 per cent unaffiliated to any religion. Ali Valenzuela, an American University professor of government who studies Latino politics, said many Hispanics used to be anti-abortion, primarily because of their religion. He attributed the shift in viewpoints to “the changed political reality” after the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, which put abortion access at risk in many states.
Steel protective guards for windows of 700 year old church repeatedly vandalised
A 700-year-old church in Chester which has had its historical stained glass windows repeatedly vandalised has applied to install special protection for the panes. St. Peter’s Church, by Chester Cross in the city centre, has submitted a planning application to the council to fit stainless steel protective guards to six windows. These include the three lower windows in the south elevation, and the three main windows of the east elevation. The application to Cheshire West and Chester Council said the work on the Grade-I listed church on Watergate Street was necessary as it has seen “repeated episodes of vandalism” with stained glass broken requiring extensive repairs. The present structure dates from the 1300s but has been adapted and rebuilt over the centuries.
Thousands queue in Manchester to see the relic of 15-year-old computer geek saint
Thousands of pilgrims have been visiting St Anthony’s Church in Wythenshawe over the past few days to honour an Italian teenager nicknamed “God’s influencer”, who will be made a saint next year. Blessed Carlo Acutis, who died from leukaemia aged 15 in 2006, designed websites maintaining a list of the approved visions of Mary and in 2020 the Catholic church recognised a miracle attributed to his intercession. The relic of his heart, kept in an ornate container called a reliquary, was on view in the church. Such was the demand to see it that church authorities asked people to use a major ticketing website to book timeslots to pray in the church. The Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, who requested the relics to come to Manchester, said Blessed Carlo spent his short life spreading the love of God. He told the BBC that Carlo was “an ordinary young man indistinguishable from his contemporaries in the way he dressed, the trainers he wore, the Nutella he liked (and recognised he liked too much!) and especially the internet he used.” Carlo will be canonised as the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint next year. The relic was on in display at St Anthony’s church until yesterday morning.
How multiple ideas of God and Christianity gave rise to a diverse religion
The Telegraph reviews a new book by the American historian and scholar of early Christianity, Professor Paula Frederiksen. “Ancient Christianities – the First 500 Years” tells the story of multiple versions of Christianity and she explains how one particular idea of God and one particular form of Christianity came to dominate late Roman imperial politics and piety. Professor Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity, or rather early Christianities, through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from Judea to Rome and Constantinople. She tells a story with a sprawling cast of characters: not only theologians, bishops, and emperors, but also gods and demons, angels and magicians, astrologers and ascetics, saints and heretics, aristocratic patrons and millenarian enthusiasts. She says all played their part in the development of what became and remains an energetically diverse biblical religion. The reviewer, Christopher Howse, isn’t convinced. Fredriksen, he writes “is determined to present “the complexities and ambiguities, the ironies and surprises, the twists and turns” to demonstrate that Christianity was plural, described as “Christianities”. He writes: “I’m not sure that this succeeds. It’s as if, writing of the Thames, one threw in details of swallow holes and oxbows, weirs and backwaters. But the river remains.”
