Senior MP Nigel Evans said he was “clearly a second class Christian, but a first class gay” given he could not get married in a church in England.

Former Army officer Bob Stewart, meanwhile, said he was wrong to have voted against equal marriage legislation “because I’ve seen the joy it’s given so many people”.

Mr Evans said: “I mentioned the royal wedding. A billion people will be tuning in to watch that happy event. I’ll certainly watch it.

“But whilst I am watching that happy event, one thing will flash through my mind, and that is that I am a Christian.

“Clearly a second class Christian, but a first class gay. Why? Because I wouldn’t be allowed to walk down the aisle with somebody that I loved and get married in a church in England.

“My message to Justin Welby is I understand why, because of the church in Africa and some other countries where they’re not as progressive as we are.

“But he needs to show leadership. He really does, in our country, to ensure that gay Christian people can get married and enjoy a big day, just as Harry and Meghan are going to do on Saturday.”

Mr Stewart then intervened, saying: “I voted against the Equal Marriage Act, and I was wrong. I was wrong, because I’ve seen the joy it’s given so many people.

“I was wrong. But I do think the church, the established church of our country, should follow what this House has decided and that actually…

The bishops announced at the end of an emergency summit with Pope Francis that all 31 active bishops and three retired ones in Rome had signed a document offering to resign and putting their fate in the hands of the Pope.

Francis can accept the resignations one by one, reject them or delay a decision.

It is the first known time an entire national bishops conference has offered to resign en masse over scandal, and laid bare the devastation the abuse crisis has caused the Catholic Church in Chile and beyond.

Calls had mounted for resignations after details emerged of the contents of a 2,300-page Vatican report into the Chilean scandal leaked early on Friday.

Francis had accused the bishops of destroying evidence of sex crimes, pressuring investigators to minimise abuse accusations and showing “grave negligence” in protecting children from paedophile priests.

In one of the most damning documents from the Vatican, Francis said the entire Chilean church hierarchy was collectively responsible for “grave defects” in handling cases and the resulting loss of credibility for the Catholic Church.

“No one can exempt himself and place the problem on the shoulders of the others,” Francis wrote in the document, published by Chilean T13 television and confirmed as accurate by the Vatican.

In a statement in response, the Chilean bishops said the contents of the document were…

They show the typical PCR listener is tuning in for 18 hours every week – more than any other network brand across the country.

Programme director Bernard Achampong told Premier’s Inspirational Breakfast show: “People are spending 18 hours a week with us.

“I think big brands like BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 2 have people spending eleven hours a week, so that’s quite a margin.”

PCR is also celebrating an increase in market share – from 0.5 per cent in the final three months of 2017 to 1.4 per cent in the first three months of this year.

Weekly reach also rose in that time, from 141,800 to 157,800 listeners.

The average BBC Radio 4 audience member spent 11.8 hours per-week listening, while the figure for BBC Radio 2 was 11.7 hours.

Bernard Achampong continued: “I think it’s because we do something different.

“We’re not just trying to entertain people; we’re not just trying to push content on you.

“We’re actually spending time with you; we broadcast up to eight hours of ministry programmes per-day.

“Not many radio stations do things like that.”

The statistics were compiled by RAJAR, or Radio Joint Audience Research – the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences across the UK.

Convinced that the ability of radio to tackle loneliness will ensure its survival amid technological changes, Bernard Achampong added: “You can watch television but it’s not quite the same…

French President Emmanuel Macron said he wants to make women feel safer in the streets, but Widdecombe told Premier’s Inspirational Breakfast show she doesn’t think wolf-whistling is harassment at all.

When presenter Rosie Wright asked her if she thought it was a compliment she said: “Of course it is, it’s just a very cheerful way of complimenting somebody, I mean obviously I don’t get wolf-whistled now but when I got them when I was younger I used to smile and wave and just carry on.”

When pushed on how it could be seen as more than a harmless gesture Widdecombe said: “There’s always been a level of behaviour that is unacceptable – I mean if a man follows you in the street wolf-whistling or something that’s completely different, but just a cheery wolf-whistle from a building site when a pretty girl’s walking by – let’s keep our sense of proportion.”

The former Conservative MP for Maidstone implied that she was fed-up with women moaning about it: “The fact that somebody has shown some appreciation should cause you to smile and I’m sure if more people to look at you they’re looking at you with a smile.”

“What have we done with our cheerfulness? Why are we all now so po-faced and grievance stricken?”

She said it was a compliment like any other: “What is it other than the equivalent of saying ‘you look nice today?'”

She added that she couldn’t at all appreciate the idea…