King to focus on the ‘pilgimage of life’ in Christmas Day message
The King’s Christmas message will be delivered from the Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey this year. He is expected to talk about the “pilgrimage of life”, and the lessons it can teach about current issues. Earlier this month, he announced that early diagnosis and “effective intervention” meant his treatment could be reduced in the new year. He said: “This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care.” He was diagnosed in February 2024 but the type of cancer has never been identified. The traditional Christmas message has been made by the monarch since 1932, and will be broadcast at 15.00 on Christmas Day.
Pope Leo appeals for 24 hours of peace on Christmas Day
Pope Leo has said he is greatly saddened that Russia has apparently refused the request for a Christmas truce. Speaking to journalists at his Castel Gandolfo residence, he renewed his appeal for a pause in fighting at Christmas: “Perhaps they will listen to us, and there will be 24 hours – one full day of peace throughout the world. I once again make this appeal to all people of good will: that, at least on the feast of the birth of the Saviour, one day of peace may be respected”. Turning to the Middle East, he said he had spoken to Father Gabriel Romanelli, pastor of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. “They are trying to celebrate the feast in the midst of a situation that remains very precarious. Let us hope that the peace agreement will move forward.” Finally he said he was very disappointed that his home state of Illinois has approved assisted suicide for adults with terminal illnesses and a prognosis of six months or less, starting from September 2026. He had addressed the issue “very explicitly” with Governor JB Pritzker during an audience at the Vatican last November: “We were very clear about the need to respect the sacredness of life, from beginning to end. And unfortunately…he decided to sign that bill. I am very disappointed by this”, he said.
The Nativity Story 2025
It’s Christmas Eve, and many churches will be holding crib services today, with young children dressing up in nativity scenes, alongside the singing of carols. Here are some moments from services held during Advent in 2025: The Nativity story at Hereford Cathedral, focussing on the relationship between Mary and Joseph, and the real human struggles faced by people living in ancient Judea, a story directed by the cathedral’s Chancellor and former theatre director Rev Canon James Pacey; A knitted nativity scene is on display at Hubberholme Church in Upper Wharfedale, in the Yorkshire Dales, created by the Buckden Knit and Natter group over a whole year, and including Mary and Joseph travelling along the Dales Way, shepherds using their local dialect, kings that are going over the Moors from the East Riding on camels; and Astbury, Congleton’s Live Nativity, with a donkey and a real baby, in a theatre production starting at a farm, through the village to the stable scene in St Mary’s church, Astbury; and the Methodist Compass Project Portsmouth, which invited the public to find nativity characters hidden in local businesses.
A life in a week of a parish priest during the Christmas rush
The Telegraph has published a week from the diary of Father Ben Bell, from St George the Martyr Church in Borough, Southwark, as he described the “plate spinning” in preparation for Christmas. There was the time he was spooked by the eyes on a donkey in the nativity set, the rough sleeper who asked for cash to buy fireworks to remember his brother, a regular who he helps find something to eat, a street preacher blaring out a message of eternal damnation while the church was offering a quiet lunchtime mass, negotiating permission to use confetti cannons in a primary school’s nativity service, the chaos of conducting it, the volunteer at a food co-operative who sorted brussels sprouts in a protected gloved hand to preserve a recent hand shake with George Clooney, the constant search for bell ringers, a break-in and theft of the sanctuary lamp, and the prayers at the bedside of a dying man. He writes: “Come what may, we’ll get on with telling the story of God born among us. And somehow, amidst all the chaos and bizarre requests, that story still has the power to stop me in my tracks.”
A Jewish journalist says ‘don’t sideline the Christmas story’
Sidelining Christmas with messages of Happy Holidays, Winter jumper day, lights with no mention of the story, is a mistake, according to Angela Epstein in The Telegraph. She says Britain has traditionally had a liberal understanding of diverse cultures “so there should be no expectation for the calendar to be rewritten, or for a dominant tradition to be disguised in neutered language for the comfort of the few”. And she adds: “I’m Jewish. I don’t celebrate Christmas. And yet, I adore every spangly detail: from driving past ho-ho-homes with their inflatable Santas and illuminated reindeer to the sounds of supermarket tannoys playing Slade (and, sadly, now the late, Chris Rea) on loop.”
Profile of Dame Sarah Mullaly – ‘at home with complex systems’
A profile of Dama Sarah Mullaly, who is to be confirmed as the next Archbishop of Canterbury in a ceremony next month, says “the most subversive thing she can do, aside from just being a woman, is the dull business of getting to grips with the administration and governance of the church”. Andrew Anthony, writing for The Observer, refers to her article in the Church Times ten years ago, where she despaired of the CofE’s “incoherent governance structures”, where groups act independently but need to be joined up. Dame Sarah was once the Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England and the article quotes the bishop of Ramsbury, Andrew Rumsey, saying she has “institutional courage – she’s at home with complex systems.”
Lord Glasman says the church in England must not stay mute
Lord Maurice Glasman, author of Blue Labour and recent supporter of Trump’s victory as a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, interfaith, working-class coalition against progressives, writes in The Times that he realises his freedom and security in England, arises from Christian teaching embodied by the church. Yet, he says, the church in England has become distant from its people: “The new era we live in is an era of faith. It seems the C of E is the only tradition that is mute”, and he argues that this estrangement is a source of social volatility. One example is the graffiti art installation at Canterbury Cathedral, which he says “felt like a renunciation of vocation, an abdication of responsibility; a desecration”, suggesting they could have done an installation of TS Eliot’s poems instead.
Trump’s ‘transactional Christianity’ at play in Nigeria
The Times’ diplomatic editor, Roger Boyes, suggests “the stage could now be set for a partial retreat” of Trump’s policy cutting back the US overseas aid budget. Writing in The Times, he says Trump’s “transactional Christianity, offering £1.6 billion of aid to Nigeria in return for more security for persecuted Christians, is more than a gesture of moral concern. He suggests Trump has tapped into the theory that the world’s conflicts are no longer ideological but cultural, religious and civilisational. Nigeria’s Christians have become proxies in a story, Trump’s (and Kirk’s) narrative about America under siege”. The article ishere
Two Islamic State extremists guilty of plotting to kill Jews in Manchester
Two Islamic State extremists face life imprisonment after being convicted of plotting a suicide and gun attack targeting Manchester’s Jewish community. Preston Crown Court was told that the plan could have become “the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history”. Walid Saadaoui, 38, a former Italian restaurant owner in Norfolk, was motivated by revenge for Israeli strikes in Gaza. He planned the attack with Amar Hussein, 52, a former Iraqi soldier who had claimed to be from Kuwait when he arrived in the UK in 2006. Story is here
