Religion news 8 January 2026
US evangelical speaker retires after admitting eight year affair; Britons express deep gratitude to be alive; Cardinals urge Pope Leo to focus on mission and synodality; Orthodox Christmas celebrated worldwide
US evangelical speaker retires after admitting eight year affair; Britons express deep gratitude to be alive; Cardinals urge Pope Leo to focus on mission and synodality; Orthodox Christmas celebrated worldwide
Call for week of prayer and fasting for peace in Venezuela; ‘The only person who can stop Donald Trump now is Pope Leo’; Police deny political pressure led to ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans; Prayer vigil as Christian climate activists appear at Bath court
US Episcopal leaders call for Congress investigation into Venezuela action; ‘AI physicist’ to answer deep questions of the universe; 33.5 million pilgrims visited Rome during Year of Jubilee; US Islamic preacher ‘banned from speaking’ in England
Pope ‘deeply concerned’ over events in Venezuela; Mass for victims of Swiss ski resort fire; 17 Catholic missionaries killed in service in 2025; Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss has died aged 96
King Charles referenced his recent visit to Rome, with the Queen, where they prayed with Pope Leo in a historuic moment of spiritual unity, celebrating
King to focus on the ‘pilgimage of life’ in Christmas Day message; Pope Leo appeals for 24 hours of peace on Christmas Day; The Nativity story 2025 – with theatre director at Hereford Cathedral, knitters in Yorkshire and a real donkey and baby at a village production in Cheshire
Hate crime rising, Christian Nationalism emerging, new leaders for the world’s Catholics and Anglicans, concern over assisted dying and abortion, and grassroots peace and justice movements – how religion hit the headlines in 2025
130 kidnapped children and teachers freed in Nigeria; Church leaders in Jerusalem say hundreds killed since ceasefire; Red candle lights for Palestinian Christians on Christmas Eve; Chief Rabbi calls on ‘silent majority’ to speak out against violence; Why people still believe in angels
Memorial to 15 Jewish people killed at Bondi Beach; 8,500 people mark the winter solstice at Stonehenge; Two Archbishops in waiting point out Jesus was a refugee; Vicar in St Albans takes carol singing to the pubs; Plea to stop using donkeys in nativity plays
The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Richard Moth, known for his deep concern over social justice, prisons, mental health, education and refugees, has been appointed as the new Archbishop of Westminster
