Since last year, the devices, which allow users to ask ‘Alexa’ to play music, do the shopping or give trivia, can now say prayers, answer questions on faith and even tell you where your nearest church is.

Over the past twelve months, 75,000 questions have been asked to the Church.

Unpacking the figures on Premier’s News Hour, the Church of England’s head of digital Adrian Harris, said: “We’ve been thrilled with the number of people that have used the skill over the last year, and also the really broad range of users that have engaged with it from people who perhaps can’t get to church, the older generations, but also families, and those who are open and exploring their faith.”

The skill has a score of 4.2 out of five stars on the official store.

New data has revealed requests are more frequent in the evening and the most common made to Alexa are to say a prayer or explore the Christian faith.

The Church is now developing new content to meet the needs of users.

Explaining further, Adrian Harris said: “I think one of the really interesting trends we’ve seen is how people are using it to access daily content – not just prayers, but also daily reflections, which are three to four minute pieces with a prayer, a reflection and a Bible passage especially throughout Lent and Easter.

“We’re working with Thy Kingdom Come and we’ve worked with Church House Publishing to get…

In a light hearted post on Facebook, local police said the ‘Holy Spirit’ placed his symbol, a dove, to prevent the driver getting caught last week.

“We have understood the sign and leave the racer in peace this time,” the statement said. “However, we associate with it the hope that the protected racer understands this ‘hint from above’ as well and drives appropriately in the future.”

The driver was caught travelling at 54 kmph in a 30 zone in Viersen near Dusseldorf.

They would normally have been fined €105 (£92).

In a direct message to the bird in question, police said she too should have been fined for speeding but grace was being shown as officers did not know where she needed to be in time for Pentecost.

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This means that the highest paid worker at the organisation that manages the assets of the Church received 23 times more than the lowest earner.

The Church paid record bonuses of more than £1m in 2018 to the asset managers who look after its wealth.

In the same year, Archbishop Justin Welby condemned wealth inequality when he sat on the Commission on Economic Justice.

Speaking last year at the launch of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) economic justice commission report, Archbishop Justin said: “Everyone is better off when the rewards of the economy are more fairly shared.

“So a core message of the Commission is that a fairer economy is a stronger economy.

“But redistributing the results of economic growth is no longer sufficient to confront the challenges of today’s economy.

“Justice must be ‘hard-wired’ into the processes of production and consumption – in the labour market, in corporate governance and the ownership of assets, and in the rules of the market.”

The commission insists that it manages the Church’s £8.2 billion investment fund “responsibly and ethically”.

A spokesperson for the Church Commissioners told the Daily Mail: “Despite a challenging market environment, the commissioners produced a positive return and our tenth year of positive returns.”

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Restaurant and gift shop owners on the Île de la Cité have reported a significant decrease in sales following the fire last month and are calling on the government to intervene.

With many local traders claiming a 70% drop in revenue and some being forced to close their doors for weeks at a time, the economy minister, Bruno Le Maire held a meeting last week to address the problem.

According to The Times, Mr Le Maire has said between 25 and 30 businesses have suffered ‘considerable losses, sometimes as much as 100%’.

He said: “For all these businesses, which are often family-run, I am proposing very direct and very personalised help.”

A second meeting is set to take place next month.

The tourism slump is in part due to the decision made by The Paris Council to close the Notre Dame forecourt and surrounding streets after the blaze.

Mr Le Maire said the government may consider delays to tax payments and possible compensation to support struggling traders.

Restoration of the cathedral is expected to take five years according to President Macron, but many architects suspect the work will take much longer.

Some are asking for plans to be made to draw tourists back to the area and allow prayers to continue on the Notre Dame forecourt during the restoration period.

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A common supposition – that of the purposeless disbeliever, lacking anything to ascribe ultimate meaning to the universe – does not bear scrutiny, a university study said.

Most endorse objective moral values and human dignity at similar rates to the general populations in their countries, the report presented at the Vatican said.

One of the authors, University of Kent sociologist Dr Lois Lee, said: “These findings show once and for all that the public image of the atheist is a simplification at best, and a gross caricature at worst.

“Instead of relying on assumptions about what it means to be an atheist, we can now work with a real understanding of the many different world views that the atheist population includes.

“The implications for public and social policy are substantial – and this study also stands to impact on more everyday interactions in religiously diverse societies.”

The research is supported by a £2.3 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation and is led by the University of Kent in collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast, St Mary’s University Twickenham, and Coventry University.

The global Understanding Unbelief programme to advance the scientific understanding of atheism and non-religion will present the results from its research at the Vatican in Rome.

The multidisciplinary research programme maps the nature and diversity of “unbelief”…