Bishop of Salisbury referred to CofE’s national safeguarding team
Salisbury Diocese has issued a statement saying that matters concerning the Bishop of Salisbury, Stephen Lake, have been referred to the CofE’s national safeguarding team. The news follows an announcement in April that the Bishop was “stepping back” from his role while a financial audit takes place into two accounts which he held. At the time, he also resigned as a trustee of the Church Commissioners. The Diocese says it understands “how deeply unsettling and shocking this latest news is”. The Church Times reports that the acting Bishop, Karen Gorham, wrote to the diocese saying “The concerns relate to adults. These concerns emerged subsequent to the financial investigation, and we have been informed by the NST that they are being dealt with in accordance with the Bishop’s Code of Practice.” Report is here
Ofcom publishes figures for religious broadcasting in 2025
Latest Ofcom figures for “religion and ethics” TV and audiovisual output aired during 2025 by public service broadcasters, show an overall marginal increase of three hours on 2024, but the figure is much lower than the highpoint in 2013. In that year, there were 254 hours of programming about religion including worship. In 2025, the figure was 171 hours – a drop of 33 per cent, mainly due to Channel 4 and Channel 5 withdrawing. In 2025, ITV and Channel 4 recorded one hour each, the rest came from the BBC. Daisy Scalchi, BBC Head of Religion and Ethics, TV, said: ” The BBC provides almost 99 per cent of the UK’s broadcast religion programming across a wide variety of content… There is no other UK media organisation consistently reflecting faith and belief across such a breadth of content and formats”. Story with graphs here.
Faith groups call on PM to rethink military spending ahead of NATO summit
Fourteen faith communities are among 55 organisations urging Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to rethink Britain’s growing focus on military spending, ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara next week. The joint letter follows this week’s Defence Investment Plan, which found a further £15 billion for the military. Signatories include Quakers in Britain, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Pax Christi Scotland and the Iona Community, alongside major humanitarian charities, think tanks and peacebuilding organisations. The letter urges Sir Keir to resist pressure from NATO allies to increase spending further and calls instead for a stronger UK role in peacebuilding, climate cooperation and international justice. A copy of the letter will be sent to Andy Burnham MP, as Keir Starmer’s most likely successor.
Presbyterian Church of Wales warns ‘It’s do or die’
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Wales meets next week in Porthmadog and will consider its future in the light of falling and ageing membership, challenges maintaining buildings and opportunities for church growth. It will discuss a “comprehensive restructuring strategy” addressing a fall in membership of eight per cent since 2020, now totalling 11,430 people across 443 local churches and only 275 members under the age of 25. The strategy includes training for local church leaders, clergy will move away from admin towards mission, slashing red tape, using buildings for communities, projects to attract young people, and departmental mergers. There are signs of hope – the church has a combined wealth of £21 million, and there is still young people’s work and churches offering help to the community. The general secretary, the Rev Nan Powell Davies said the consultation “warns that reform will fail if it is perceived as centralisation, an uncosted administrative exercise, or a withdrawal of support from fragile congregations. It’s now do or die for us as a denomination.”
Bishops and members of Society of Saint Pius X are excommunicated
The Vatican has announced that priests and members of the conservative and traditionalist Catholic group, the Society of Saint Pius X, are excommunicated, after four men were consecrated bishops in defiance of the Pope. The Vatican’s decree said the four bishops are excommunicated, along with the two bishops who took part in the ceremony. Priests belonging to the society and lay members who “formally adhere” to the group are also in schism and excommunicated. Pope Leo had appealed for the consecrations not to go ahead, warning that it would be “schismatic” and a “sin of extreme gravity”. The statement made clear that the church would welcome all those who wish to return to full communion.
New Bishop of Arundel and Brighton is Fr Stephen Wang
Fr Stephen Wang, Rector of the Venerable English College in Rome, has been appointed as the new Bishop of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, succeeding Richard Moth who has become Archbishop of Westminster. Aged 59, he read Theology and Religious Studies at Cambridge and was ordained nine years later, serving as a parish priest in London, lecturer at Allen Hall seminary in Chelsea, visiting priest at Wormwood Scrubs, and chaplain at the LSE before moving to Rome in 2021. He said: “Coming from a landlocked diocese where the hills are no bigger than London buses, I look forward to some wild swimming and walks on the South Downs”. His predecessors in Arundel and Brighton include Richard Moth, Kieran Conry and Cormac Murphy O’Connor.
Ukrainian bishop says latest ‘cynical attack’ is profound violation of human dignity
Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, Bishop of the Ukrainian Eparchy of the Holy Family of London, has released a statement on the Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, which killed 27 people and injured 91. The targets were over a wide area and included blocks of flats, neighbouring buildings and an ambulance station. The Bishop said: “I join with people worldwide in mourning the tragic loss of innocent lives and pray for the recovery of people who suffered serious injuries, lost their homes, places of work and study. This cynical attack intentionally targeted civilian life, leaving hundreds of homes and critical infrastructure in ruins. Such deliberate destruction of neighbourhoods and communities is a profound violation of human dignity.
State apology for post war forced adoptions ‘embedded in British society’
Keir Starmer has issued a formal apology, on behalf of the British state, for historical forced adoptions in England and Wales. An estimated 185,000 babies were taken from their mothers after the war until the 1970s, with women pressured into giving up their children because they were unmarried. Starmer told the Commons that this was “a stain on our history..The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours”. He said the forced adoptions were practices “embedded” across local authorities, religious organisations and parts of what is now the NHS. The Catholic church has re-iterated an apology it first issued in 2016 apologising for the hurt caused by agencies acting in the name of the Catholic Church. The Church of England apologised on 18 June this year.
11-year-old boy loses control of truck and kills nine Buddhist monks
The Guardian reports that an 11-year-old boy drove his parents’ pick-up truck into a Buddhist procession in Thailand, killing at least nine monks. Police said the boy had taken the truck without permission and lost control after driving for six miles. The monks were processing between two temples when they were hit. Five were pronounced dead at the scene and severela others were critically injured.
