Church Times

1 day ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Hattie Williams

THE public are more likely to recognise “Give us this day our daily bread” as being from the Lord’s Prayer than “To be, or not to be” as being from Hamlet, a new poll suggests. The online survey of 2035 UK adults, conducted by Savanta between 23 and 26 May, was commissioned by the Church of England to mark the Pentecost prayer initiative Thy Kingdom Come, which has been running for ten years (News, 30 May).

2 days ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Madeleine Davies

THE Church Commissioners have defended the research that they commissioned into whether their funds benefited from the transatlantic slave trade, after its findings were criticised by historians.

2 days ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Jonathan Luxmoore

FIFTEEN Roman Catholic nuns have been declared blessed martyrs, eight decades after being murdered by Russian soldiers in Poland. One was shot while resisting rape; two others were dragged to their deaths behind a speeding truck. “They all gave supreme witness of faith in the context of an ideological struggle that sowed persecution and death, violence and destruction in the Europe of their time,” the Prefect of the Dicastery for Saints’ Causes, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, said.

3 days ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Madeleine Davies

ALL new spending at Bangor Cathedral has been suspended by the Chapter, a Church in Wales spokesman confirmed this week. The suspension was first reported last week by BBC Wales, which linked it to cathedral debts owed to the Bangor diocesan board of finance (DBF). The spokesman said on Wednesday that the suspension had been put in place, “pending a review this week”.

3 days ago | churchtimes.co.uk | Hattie Williams

THE Government’s decision to extend free school meals to all children whose parents receive Universal Credit has been warmly welcomed by the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, and the Children’s Society. An announcement from the Department for Education on Wednesday evening confirmed that, from September 2026 — the start of the school year — every pupil whose household is on Universal Credit, regardless of income, will be eligible for free school meals.