Archbishop Leo Cushley, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh said it was a momentous occasion.

“It is a great privilege to be officially invited to offer Holy Mass within the Scottish Parliament, the first such invitation since the parliament’s re-establishment 19 years ago,” he said.

“It is a generous gesture which seems to recognise that Catholics are valued participants in the civic life of contemporary Scotland, where we seek to work with others in advancing the common good.”

The Scottish Catholic Parliamentary Office explained that Holyrood is a ‘fitting’ place for Mass.

Anthony Horan, director of the Office said in a statement:  “The celebration of Holy Mass, the summit of Catholic life, is an opportunity to express prayers for the work of our elected representatives and for the common good of society.

“Of course, Holyrood means Holy Cross, so in that sense; parliament is a most fitting place for this historic celebration.”

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The study by Rethink Mental Illness found only half of Brits know the signs of it.

John Ryeland, director of the Christian Healing Mission told Premier News Hour he’s glad that mental health is no longer a taboo subject.

“One of the great things is that at the moment there have been a number of high profile people talking about their struggles with mental illness,” he said. “What that’s done is it’s created a culture where it’s much easier now for folks to talk about it.”

He said Bipolar disorder impacts people in various ways, but depression, heightened mood swings, and over-activity are signs people can look out for.

Ryeland urged Christians to not ignore those who struggle with mental health because almost all of them feel isolated.

“Show that God-given compassion that he’s given us all,” he said. “Certainly don’t avoid it, thinking ‘I better not think about it’. I think people long for folk to reach out to them and to love them in the state they’re in.”

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Almost 5,000 people regularly attend services at 44 of the chapels across the universities with over half being students at the weekend.

On an average Sunday, 1,685 students attended services, with the number of non-student adults at 1,145.

Rev Professor Anthony Bash, who teaches at the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham and is a chaplain told Premier: “I think it is true that numbers are declining in terms of people who attend church services and I think there’s a general drop with the ways people engage with institutional forms of religion but that’s not to say that’s there’s any decline in interest in things we might call spiritual”.

“What I observed from among students is that there’s a great hunger to explore questions to do with spirituality.”

Rev Bash added: “If we present a formulaic, dogmatic, doctrinaire response we observe it’s a great turn-off to students.”

When asked what the Church can learn from these figures, he said: “I think some churches have already learnt the lesson that traditional patterns of church life and church services just don’t attract people who are under 30 or under 40 and we need to rethink and reimagine how to reach this segment of the population.

“Where churches are doing that we are seeing exciting growth and people discovering and exploring faith.”

Rev Bash explained that churches need to recognise the make-up of their…

According to the Diocese of East Anglia, a man walked into St Mary’s Catholic Church on 27^thMarch, lit a couple of small fires and attempted to burn a sacred icon taken off the church’s altar.

There was also a picture of a satanic figure left in the icon’s place on the holy altar.

The attack has been condemned by Parish Priest Fr Anthony Nwankwo, who pledged that the incident would not stop the Diocese leaving its churches across the region open as places of prayer and sanctuary.

Fr Anthony said: “I was shocked and saddened when I discovered what had happened. When I looked at the altar I saw this picture of something satanic. My immediate thought was to get some holy water and use it with prayer to nullify what the person had done.

“It is a clear attack on the church and our religion which is not acceptable. If people do not like what we do here they can just stay away. Such an attack on our church can never succeed.

“Our parishioners are shocked and sad about what has happened but I was very encouraged by the number of people who came to Mass this morning in support.”

Fr Anthony and Brian Lafferty with the damaged icon in front of the desecrated altar

He said a similar incident happened four months ago when someone left a satanic picture at the foot of a at the back of the church. He also…

Pope Francis used his weekly general audience in St Peter’s square on Wednesday to criticise “fake Christians” who claim to be virtuous but “live a corrupt life”.

Speaking to a crowd of thousands, he said: “These fake Christians will end up in a bad way.

“Let’s think about what happens right here at home (in Italy), let’s think about the so-called Christian Mafiosi (mafia).

“They have nothing Christian about them. They claim to be Christian, but they carry death in their souls. We pray for them.”

Many mafia leaders invoke the names of saints in secret initiation ceremonies and members of organised crime groups in Italy, such as Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and Calabria’s ‘Ndrangheta, see themselves as religious.

Pope Francis has on numerous occasions condemned the mafia, who he says practise “the adoration of evil”.

In an interview with an Italian newspaper in 2014, he said: “Some priests tend to overlook the mafia phenomenon. But all this is changing and will change.

“Our denunciation of the mafia will not happen just once, it will be constant.”

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