Rev Canon Jonathan Ford, from the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich told Premier he disagreed with the Right Rev Philip North tweet that implied the Diocese of Leeds’ financial crisis was due to the north-south financial divide between churches.

“I’m very sad and disappointed by the Bishop of Burnley’s statement because I’m afraid it exposes a fair degree of ignorance,” Rev Ford said.

“He should know that there are many dioceses in what he calls the south, who are really struggling. I know of one diocese that has never had any historic resources at all unlike some of the northern dioceses.”

Responding to the news that the Diocese of Leeds is struggling to tackle a £3m deficit, the Right Rev Philip North tweeted: “A northern Diocese ‘in crisis’ because of a debt of less than 1 per cent of the funds held by some southern Dioceses.

“This ‘crisis’ is no more than a symptom of a much deeper financial and spiritual institutional sickness. The solution is in Acts 2.”

Act 2:44-5 in the King James Bible states: “And all that believed were together, and had all things common. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”

However, Rev Ford criticised some of the financial decisions made by the diocese – which was formed four years ago as a merger between the diocese of Bradford,…

The pocket-sized Bible went missing when the cathedral’s monastic community disbanded during the Reformation in the 16th century.

Now known as the Lyghfield Bible, after the 16th century Cathedral monk who once owned it, the 690-leaf volume was purchased at an auction in London in July.

The £100,000 purchase was made possible with a grant of almost £96,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF). There was also further funding from the Friends of the National Libraries, the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral and a private donation.

Sir Peter Luff, Chair of NHMF, said: “Not only an incredibly rare book directly linked to one the most turbulent periods of British history, the Lyghfield Bible is also exquisitely beautiful.

“We at the National Heritage Memorial Fund agreed it was imperative it should be saved for the nation and returned home to Canterbury where its important story can be told to future generations of visitors, pilgrims and students.”

Exactly what happened to the Lyghfield Bible is not known, but now it is back to join the very small percentage of the book collection that survived. There are only 30 volumes from the thousands that the cathedral once had.

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The Church of England’s lead bishop on safeguarding questioned the decision by the Diocese of Oxford after he was accused of covering up abuse.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, Rt Rev Peter Hancock (below, left) said: “I regret it not because I want to intervene in matters that relate to another diocese, but just because what I hear from those I speak to, which are the victims, the survivors, those who are particularly troubled by the church’s actions, that see this, perceive this and believe this to be something which has caused them more distress and it’s for that reason particularly.”

But Widdecombe who now works in the media suggested forgiveness should be offered to those who get things wrong.

Dr George Carey (left), the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop Peter Hancock, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop.

Writing her column in the Daily Express, she said: “The suggestion that George Carey, should not be allowed to carry on preaching because he failed to act properly over allegations of abuse against Bishop Peter Ball would be vindictive enough if it came from a secular figure but from Bishop Peter Hancock, leader of the Church of England’s anti-abuse team, it should be offensive to all Christians.

“Carey was guilty of negligence, not collusion, but if Bishop…

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican’s family and laity office, told the Associated Press he is livid he was kept in the dark because he would have done something about it.

He spoke as the US church hierarchy came under fire from ordinary American Catholics, outraged that McCarrick’s misconduct with men was apparently an open secret in some US church circles.

Pope Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation as cardinal on Saturday and ordered him to live a lifetime of penance and prayer pending the outcome of a canonical trial.

In an open letter on Tuesday, a contributor to the conservative Catholic magazine First Things urged Catholics to withhold diocesan donations to the US church until an independent investigation determines which US bishops knew about McCarrick’s misdeeds – a “nuclear option” aimed at making the laity’s sense of betrayal heard and felt.

Some outrage has been directed at Cardinal Farrell, 71, who was consecrated as a bishop by McCarrick in 2001 and served as his vicar general in the archdiocese of Washington until McCarrick’s 2006 retirement.

Some Catholic commentators have speculated the Cardinal must have at least heard rumours that Catholic laity, students and professors at Catholic University in Washington and even some journalists had heard.

Cardinal Farrell lived with McCarrick, 88, and other priests and bishops in a converted school…