Daily media briefing

The Archbishop of York has hit out at a BBC Programme accusing it of "re-traumatising" survivors and victims of abuse.

Premier Christian News

A former head of MI5 will lead the search for the new Archbishop of Canterbury in a process that will invite members of the public to submit names but will not publish any shortlists or hold any hustings.

The Times*

All safeguarding teams, including diocesan and national staff, could transfer to an external nationwide organisation if General Synod members vote in favour of such a model in February, a new paper presented to the House of Bishops earlier this month confirms.

Church Times*

The sect, also known as 'The Way' or 'The Truth,' was founded in Ireland by William Irvine who railed against churches

Independent*

Iran's National Security Council has paused the implementation of the controversial "hijab and chastity law", which had been due to come into force on Friday.

BBC

A Shetland councillor believes it is "ludicrous" that some non-elected members – such as religious representatives on the education and families committee – are still able to be involved in local democracy decision making.

Shetland News

The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell is facing calls to resign over his handling of a sexual abuse case, days before he takes temporary charge of the Church of England.

BBC

The Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Rev Helen-Ann Hartley, led calls for Justin Welby to resign. She says the Church of England needs a radical overhaul

The Times*

A man who was raped by a priest as a teenager has renewed his call for the Bishop of Oxford to resign.

BBC

"To many Britons, the word "sectarianism" is associated with unfortunate parts of the world such as the Middle East, or, closer to home, Northern Ireland. The thought of homegrown sectarianism disfiguring politics on the mainland, perhaps for the first time since the 17th century, is a troubling one. Yet it may already be a reality which we have to confront."

Unherd*

Falkirk Council is to look at the voting rights of religious representatives who sit on its education executive.

Daily Record

A vicar has been forced to apologise after telling a group of schoolchildren aged 10 and 11 that Father Christmas was not real.

BBC

Parastoo Ahmadi has defied crackdown by live streaming concert days after the judiciary imposed harsher penalties for 'promoting nudity, indecency or unveiling'

The Times*

A priest who sexually assaulted a sleeping man on a train has been jailed for 16 months.

BBC

A Leicester police officer who sparked international headlines over religious tensions has been cleared of misconduct by an independent investigation.

BBC

Declining congregations are deepening the Church of Scotland's debt, prompting warnings of 'tough decisions' to balance books.

Daily Mail

"Whilst complacency is not in itself criminal, it can allow such criminal behaviour as that perpetrated by Smyth to exist. Complacency is deeply troubling as it works quietly – often a subtle drift beyond inaction into what might be called 'evil'."

Surviving Church

David Smith, the Labour MP for North Northumberland, has been appointed as the UK's new special envoy for freedom of religion or belief.

Premier Christian News

The Justice Secretary has rejected a Labour peer's criticism of her intervention on the assisted dying Bill, and has said that she "never sought to impose her religious beliefs on anyone ever".

The National

Rebecca, one of 16 survivors who have shared their experience of child sexual abuse by a monk who lived on Caldey Island, off the coast of Pembrokeshire, speaks to BBC news.

BBC

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed the devastating toll of Russia's invasion on Ukraine's churches.

Premier Christian News

The Church of England is "losing moral authority", a former BBC boss said as he called for the 26 bishops in the House of Lords to be expelled along with hereditary peers.

Evening Standard*

Parents should not be allowed to home-educate a child if it is believed the child is suffering abuse, the Children's Commissioner for England has said.

BBC

An apology has been issued by the Church of England after a number of babies were buried in unmarked graves in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, due to "poor care" from a church run maternity home in Northampton, an investigation by ITV has found.

Northampton Chronicle

Kim Leadbeater has selected the MPs responsible for detailed scrutiny of the assisted dying bill.

BBC

A Catholic priest who was convicted of child sexual abuse has been stripped of his clerical status.

BBC

Patriarch Kirill is one of the most vocal defenders of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine

The Economist*

India's top court is hearing a number of petitions challenging a decades-old law that preserves the character and identity of religious places as they existed at the time of the country's independence in 1947.

BBC

Legal records show Lawrence Hecker and Gilbert Gauthe targeted the same altar boy in 1970s before being convicted of other crimes

The Guardian

The former director of the centuries-old Sistine Chapel choir has been sentenced to three years in jail for pocketing profits to the tune of €127,000 from the choir's globe-trotting tours.

The Times*

National Secular Society chief executive Stephen Evans that the Church of England abuse scandal means it's time to abolish the bishops' bench.

The Freethinker

Nearly 200 babies have been found buried in unmarked graves across England, amid allegations of neglect and poor treatment at church run homes for unmarried mothers.

ITV

The Church of England is facing "one of the biggest existential crises . . . since the Reformation", in the wake of the Makin Review into abuse perpetrated by John Smyth, the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Jonathan Gibbs, said on Tuesday.

Church Times*

A monk used a pet tortoise to entice children and then sexually abuse them at a monastery on a remote holy island, a report has found.

The Telegraph*

An abbey on a Welsh island where dozens of children were sexually abused by a monk over decades has promised to implement a string of safeguarding recommendations including strict limits on contact the members of the monastic community can have with visitors.

The Guardian

A Falkirk councillor says it's time to look at whether three religious representatives who sit on the council's education executive should have a right to vote.

Daily Record

Women in Iran could face the death sentence or up to 15 years in prison if they defy new compulsory morality laws due to come into effect this week.

The Guardian

Anthony Albanese says protests should be banned outside places of worship like synagogues and churches, claiming such demonstrations cause "division".

The Guardian

The government has been urged to allow the charity watchdog powers to rein in extremism after concerns were raised that some charities are 'promoting Islamic extremism with impunity'.

Daily Mail

A monk was able to abuse children for four decades on an island off the Welsh coast despite operating in "plain sight" and despite his victims' repeated complaints, an independent review has concluded.

The Guardian

Victims of child sexual abuse were treated in a heartless, hostile and cruel way by monks on a remote island, a safeguarding review has found.

BBC

The Diocese of Rochester, the Church of England covering Medway, north and west Kent, and the London Boroughs of Bromley and Bexley, has voted to pass a motion of No Confidence in the Archbishops' Council's oversight of Safeguarding.

ITV

Readers respond to the archbishop of Canterbury's final speech, for which he later apologised for causing 'further distress'

The Guardian

"The National Health Service, along with the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors, claims to take reports of antisemitism very seriously. Yet questions must be asked about whether health chiefs really mean what they say, at a time when growing numbers of Jewish doctors claim to be facing rising antisemitism from colleagues in the NHS."

The Times*

At least 110 mostly elderly people have been brutally murdered by gang members in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, according to a human rights group.

BBC

A fire which ripped through Melbourne's Adass Israel synagogue is being treated as a likely terror attack, Australian police say.

BBC

Man 'prayed a blessing,' then circumcised boy at home with utility tool, officials say.

News Tribune Tacoma via MSN

The charity watchdog could be given new powers to rein in extremism after the Home Office was warned charities are promoting Islamist ideology with "impunity".

The Telegraph via Yahoo!