Dr John Shepherd, the interim director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, took steps to clarify his stance after a video emerged of him seeming to question whether the resurrection was a “physical event” eleven years ago.

During the Easter 2008 sermon, he said: “The resurrection of Jesus ought not to be seen in physical terms, but as a new spiritual reality.

“It is important for Christians to be set free from the idea that the resurrection was an extraordinary physical event which restored to life Jesus’ original earthly body.”

In a new statement, Shepherd said: “There has been speculation in the press and on social media about my views on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Part of this is based on a sermon I preached in 2008.

A statement on the resurrection from the Very Revd Dr John Shepherdhttps://t.co/Mhd443nOC5https://t.co/3Qwrv0sDnH

— Anglican Centre Rome (@AnglicanCentre) January 15, 2019

“It is my faith that Jesus rose from the dead and I have never denied the reality of the empty tomb.

“The risen Christ was not a ghost – he ate and could be touched – but at the same time he appeared in a locked room (John 20: 26) and vanished from sight (Luke 24: 31) and he was often not immediately recognised.

“As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states (para 646), ‘In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space.’

In his proclamation on Religious Freedom Day on Wednesday, he called upon all Americans to take part in events and activities “that remind us of our shared heritage of religious liberty and that teach us how to secure this blessing both at home and around the world”.

Religious Freedom Day is celebrated in the United States each year to commemorate the Statute for Religious Freedom enacted by Virginia on 16 January 1786.

The statute was written by Thomas Jefferson to protect religious liberty and inspired the First Amendment in the US Constitution which was written a few years later.

“Unfortunately, the fundamental human right to religious freedom is under attack,” said Trump in the proclamation.

“Efforts to circumscribe religious freedom, or to separate it from adjoining civil liberties, like property rights or free speech are on the rise.

“Over time, legislative and political attacks on religious freedom have given way to actual violence.”

He recalled last year’s attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in which 11 people were killed.

“Tragically, attacks on people of faith and their houses of worship have increased in frequency in recent years,” Trump continued.
 
Further afield, Trump said he was committed to furthering religious freedom around the world as he spoke of the “tragic reality” of persecution.

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The Second Church Estates Commissioner, Caroline Spelman MP, started by reminding the House of Commons on Thursday that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt invited the Bishop of Truro to conduct an independent review into the persecution of Christians around the world, from which the Rt Rev Philip Mountstephen will produce a report.

Jeremy Lefroy MP pointed out that the numbers attending the launch of Open Doors’ latest World Watch List on Wednesday showed high levels of interest among politicians in the persecution of Christians.

He asked the MP for Meriden to ensure that the Bishop of Truro will tell members of the House about the findings of his independent review.

Spelman replied: “I’m delighted to give my honourable friend that assurance…40 countries out of the 50 are places where Christians experience very high or extreme levels of persecution and I shall go from this place, Mr. Speaker, to a meeting at the foreign office, with the foreign secretary and the Bishop and I will make that request directly to him.”

Sir Desmond Swayne MP inquired about the willingness of the Department for International Development to intervene in persecution.

The Church Commissioner for MPs explained that there was an openness to increasing religious literacy from the foreign office: “We were given assurance by the minister that this would be impressed on officials.”

Replying to a…

5,400 people, more than ten per cent of the residents in the city of Segovia have signed a petition calling for plans for the bronze sculpture to be scrapped.

It shows Satan with a smile on his face and taking a selfie with a smartphone to which local Christians have objected.

The petition says that because the devil is shown in a “jovial” way, with a phone in his hand, it “exalts evil” and is therefore “offensive to Catholics”.

It adds that Satan is supposed to be “repulsive and despicable – not kind and seductive, like that of the ‘good-natured devil’ without malice” that has been proposed.

A judge has now ordered the artwork to be put on hold while he looks into whether it is offensive to Christians.

The artist, José Antonio Abella has said he is surprised by the furore. He says he is making the sculpture as a gift to his adopted city after living there for the past three decades.

City Councillor Claudia de Santos has called the campaign “unfair and disheartening”.

She told El Pais newspaper that she would try to ensure that the sculpture goes ahead as planned.

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Last week, it was revealed that Onasanya, the MP for Peterborough, was removed from the Labour Party because she lied to police to avoid a speeding charge.

Onasanya was found guilty of driving behind the wheel of a Nissan Micra in July 2017 – doing 41mph in a 30mph in Thorney in Cambridgeshire. 

She faces a potential prison sentence and had already been asked to stand down before the party suspended her. But her appeal means any attempts to get rid of her will have to be paused until the legal process is complete.

If she is sentenced for a year or more, she will automatically lose her seat and if the sentence is less than a year then she could face a recall petition – where her constituency could recall her from parliament and trigger a by-election if 10 per cent electorate sign the petition.

A by-election could be a close and unwelcome match for Labour as she only won the seat in 2017 by 607 votes against the Conservatives with the area voting 60.9% Leave in the EU referendum. 

The recall petition rules state however: “In the case of a conviction, the recall petition will not be opened unless the appeal period expires without the conviction, sentence or order having been overturned or all appeals have been heard and dismissed.”

On Tuesday, she voted in the Brexit vote as an Independent MP (she voted against the deal) and she will continue as such, with her MP’s…

Men claiming to be part of a wedding party fired their automatic weapons into the air for 30 minutes outside St George’s Syrian Catholic Church in the town of Bartella.

Local authorities failed to respond to the illegal incident which happened on 1st December 2018.

Meanwhile, a similar shooting incident took place outside a Syriac Catholic church in nearby Qaraqosh one week later.

The perpetrators identified themselves as members of the Popular Mobilisation Units, an Iran-backed paramilitary group which played a major role in the liberation of the Nineveh Plains from Islamic State (IS) extremists.

They also belong to the Shabak, a Shi’a Muslim ethnic group in Iraq which has been accused of infringing onto Christian villages through unlawful land purchases.

#Iraq #Pray – Christians face threats and intimidation from armed groups. See: https://t.co/rmudk90vFB

— Middle East Concern (@MiddleEConcern) January 16, 2019

Middle East Concern (MEC), a Christian charity which promotes the freedoms of Christians throughout the region, said authorities had done nothing in response to the shootings.

A statement read: “To date, there have been no efforts to investigate these incidents, bring the perpetrators to justice or to protect the Christian community and church buildings in Bartella and Qaraqosh.

“Christians in Iraq strongly experience this as intimidation aimed at…