The cross-party politicians said they feared leaving the EU without securing a deal would lead to job losses and badly affect the UK’s manufacturing industry.

Dame Caroline Spelman, the Conservative politician and Christian, orchestrated the letter.

She told Premier life would get worse for many if the UK leaves the EU without an agreement on 29th March.

“This may not be a perfect deal but I think this is one where we need to actually really think about the true human cost of what we’re about to do and listen very carefully to what our heavenly father has to say,” she said.

“I’ve got unemployed workers coming into my constituency surgeries who’ve lost their jobs, who can’t pay their mortgages. This is not scare-mongering, this is the reality and it will get worse if we leave without a deal.”

All 209 signatories to the letter have been invited to meet the Prime Minister in Downing Street on Tuesday.

The letter comes as Mrs May is set to increase her efforts to persuade her Brexit critics and get guarantees from Brussels ahead of the vote on the blueprint of the deal on 15th January.

Dame Caroline highlighted the importance of MPs like Labour’s Jack Dromey (pictured above) signing the letter: “People keep saying to me, ‘come on you MPs, we want you to work together cross party’.

“Look, here it is – this is a grass-roots,…

The pontiff said the leaders should show “concrete solidarity” to provide “a safe port” for the stranded migrants on humanitarian rescue ships.

Both Italy and Malta have so far refused to allow the ships to land.

“I make a heartfelt appeal to European leaders to show concrete solidarity for these people,” the Pope told about 60,000 people in the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square in an Epiphany feast day address.

Speaking during an Epiphany feast day address to roughly 60,000 people in the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said: “I make a heartfelt appeal to European leaders to show concrete solidarity for these people.”

He added that they were only “seeking a safe port where they can disembark”.

Thirty-two people are on board the Dutch-registered vessel Sea-Watch 3, that’s run by a German humanitarian group, which rescued them from an unsafe boat off Libya on 22nd December.

There are three small children and four teenagers included on board. The second ship run by the German group Sea-Eye is carrying 17 people rescued on 29th December.

Malta has allowed the two ships to enter its waters but only for supplies and to shelter from bad weather.

Last week, a number of humanitarian groups, including Amnesty International and the United Nations’ International Organization for…

Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a general-turned-president, has made sectarian harmony a cornerstone of his rule, fighting Islamic militancy while advocating equality between the overwhelming Muslim majority and Christians, who account for ten per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people.

“This is a historic and important moment,” said Mr el-Sissi inside the cathedral.

“But we still have to protect the tree of love we planted here together today because seditions never end.”

The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the world’s primary seat of learning for Sunni Muslims, echoed Mr el-Sissi’s sentiments in comments also made at the cathedral.

Excited to see our friends in Egypt opening the biggest Cathedral in the Middle East. President El-Sisi is moving his country to a more inclusive future!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2019

The two places of worship, he said, stand as a symbol in the face of “attempts to undermine the country’s stability and sectarian seditions.”

Mr el-Sissi’s widely publicised policy to staunch sectarianism, however, has done little to protect Christians in rural Egypt, where Muslim extremists frequently attack their homes and businesses or force them to leave their homes after violent disputes.

السيد الرئيس/ عبد الفتاح السيسي يفتتح مسجد الفتاح العليم وكاتدرائية ميلاد المسيح…

William Hill has named the bishops of London and Ripon – Rt Rev Sarah Mullally and Rt Rev Dr Helen-Ann Hartley (pictured below), and the Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell – as the joint 3-1 front-runners for the soon-to-be vacant post.

Dr John Sentamu announced last year that he will retire from his post as Archbishop of York on 7th June 2020, three days before his 71st birthday- honouring the custom for a bishop to retire by their 70th birthday.

The appointments will be made by the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC).

The public won’t know who the official frontrunners are until the CNC’s final announcement that is due to be made by the end of this year.

The bishops of Manchester, Leeds, Ely, Gloucester (pictured above) and Derby have also been named as favourites by the bookmaker.

The CNC will meet privately in autumn to draw up a shortlist from names put forward by nomination commission members who include a dean, two priests and three lay people.

After interviews and a vote by secret ballot, the CNC must choose a preferred choice and an alternative by a two-thirds majority.

The names will then be sent to the prime minister who passes this on to the Queen.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight…

The case is France’s most important church sex abuse case to date and poses a new challenge to the Vatican, amid growing demands in overwhelmingly Catholic France for a reckoning with decades of sexual abuse by the clergy.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 68, appeared in a Lyon (pictured below) court along with other senior church officials accused of failing to protect children from alleged abuse by the Rev Bernard Preynat.

The top Vatican official in charge of sex abuse cases, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, is among the accused – but will not appear in court because the Vatican invoked his diplomatic immunity.

After taking his seat in the front row, Barbarin held his hands together and closed his eyes, as if in prayer.

The judge then read out the lengthy accusations against the defendants, and the defence used procedural arguments to try to get the case thrown out.

Nine people who said Preynat abused them in the 1970s and 1980s brought the case to court, and hope it marks a turning point in efforts to hold the French church hierarchy accountable for hushing up abuse.

The victims say top clergy were aware of Preynat’s actions for years, but allowed him to be in contact with children until his 2015 retirement.

Despite nationwide attention on the case, it may fall apart for legal reasons.

Prosecutors initially threw it out for…