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| Catholics around the world are taking part in the Year of Jubilee 2025, a time of “reset” for the church, focussing on hope. Thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, whose door was ceremoniously opened on New Year’s Day, where people will see a relic of the Holy Cradle, and an icon of Mary >> The Board of Deputies called for candles to be lit every night in the 9-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah, from 25 December to 2 January, in remembrance of the British-connected hostages held in Gaza. The campaign was called “Be Their Light” >> Political and religious leaders expressed their appreciation and praise for former US President Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday aged 100. He is described as an example of someone whose beliefs and actions were rooted in their Christian faith, seeking peace in the Middle East as president and continuing this work afterwards as an “Elder”. One tribute was: “Jimmy Carter is a shining example of what it means to make your faith come alive through the noble work of public service” >> Richard Dawkins has resigned from the board of the US-based “Freedom From Religion Foundation”, which educates the public on non-theism, objecting to its withdrawal of an article affirming gender as biological. Two other board members also resigned accusing the foundation of imposing an ideology with the “dogma, blasphemy, and heretics” of a religion. Full story here. New Lords appointed and New Year honours for public figures associated with religion. Pictured are new members of the House of Lords, Krish Raval, founding director of Faith in Leadership; Marvin Rees, former Mayor of Bristol and head of Bristol City Council; and Rev Dr Russell David Rook, partner at the Good Faith Partnership and Anglican priest. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was knighted. OBEs went to Phil Champain, Director of the Faith and Belief Forum and Elizabeth Jane Harris-Sawczenko, for services to faith and integration >> The year ahead Religion News Service reporters, based in the US, have looked ahead to the big religion stories of 2025, including a second Trump administration, the Jubilee at the Vatican and the spiritual experimentation of an increasingly unaffiliated population. Read their outlook here. The global organisation “AI and Faith” reports developments to look out for in AI in 2025, with debates around the sentience of AI and the rise of robots, giving way to how it impacts personal and social formation, political elections and global justice. Report is here. 2025 will see the 1700th anniversary of the Nicaea Creed, which described the identity of Jesus as “of one substance” with the Father – in other words, he was fully God. Prof Frances Young explains all in an article for Seen and Unseen >> Ten predictions listed in “The Article” include the Church of England’s “perpetual crisis”, the growth of populism, the theatre of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and global issues of migration, climate change and the economy. Ten Predictions for 2025 here. The French astrologer Nostradamus, who died in 1566, predicted in “Les Prophéties“ that 2025 would see catastrophe, plague and war, but the conflict between Russia and Ukraine will end. Brazil will be rocked by a volcano and flooding. An asteroid close to the earth, will bring natural disasters. England will see “cruel wars”. More here >> |
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| Pope’s New Year’s message: respect dignity of life >> Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell: Church of England needs to “strip off her finery and kneel in penitence and adoration and be changed”. The Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley took to Twitter / X to describe this as “empty words. I have no words more than that to describe their meaning.” Rev Richard Coles said there were ‘bumper Christmas’ congregations despite ‘a crisis at HQ’ >> Bishop of Dover, interviewed on her autobiography, revealed she had been abused and advised an end to a “lynch mob environment”, comments which came in for criticism on social media >> Police recorded large rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes in England >> Priest jailed in Belarus for criticising government in his sermons >> US Council on American-Islamic Relations denounces New Orleans attacker >> Rosary podcast goes straight to number one in Apple charts >> Notre Dame will welcome the next annual Taizé gathering >> Jailed Hindu leader refused bail in Bangladesh >> Mars is coming to Rochester Cathedral >> |
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