Justin Welby tweeted: “Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the safe delivery of their baby, a brother for Prince George and Princess Charlotte. May God bless them and all of their children with love, happiness and health.”

The birth has left the royal family and the Middletons “delighted”, Kensington Palace has said.

Mother and baby are “both doing well” after the infant prince was born at 11.01am, weighing 8lb 7oz.

The baby’s sex was a surprise to William and Kate, who chose not to find out what they were having.

Prime Minister Theresa May led the messages of support for the couple, saying: “My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their baby boy.

“I wish them great happiness for the future.”

The new prince of Cambridge is fifth in line to the throne and a younger sibling to Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

He was born more than five hours after the duchess was driven to the private maternity wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, central London. She arrived before 6am, in the early stages of labour, with the duke by her side.

A huge media presence soon gathered outside the private Lindo Wing in anticipation of the birth, the same unit where George and Charlotte were born and their father the duke.

The news of the birth was announced by Kensington Palace…

Christian Baroness Cox joined other members of the House of Lords and church leaders to hold meetings with the Assad regime.

Tory MP Nigel Evans said at the time it “defied logic” that the group visited the country just a week after dozens were suspected killed by chemical weapons in Douma.

However, Lady Cox told Premier she questioned whether there had been a chemical weapons attack at all.

Condemning the UK’s participation in air strikes, the crossbench member of the House of Lords said: “Everyone is…deeply, deeply angered by the use of missiles by the UK, the US and by France really for three reasons – one, it was illegal.

“There was no mandate and Syria is not about to attack our country, so there’s no legal justification and also the timing. They actually sent the missiles the day before the chemical weapons investigators were due to investigate.”

“There’s also a lot of concern about the British government’s continuing commitment to so-called regime change. There is no moderate armed opposition left so any regime change would just open up the situation to another Iraq, another Libya – that’s the last thing they want.”

Lady Cox’s visit earlier this month included a meeting with the Grand Mufti of Syria, who has been accused by Amnesty International of authorising the mass hangings of prisoners in the country’s Saydnaya jail.

The peer said she was not aware of…

Fr Rubén Alcántara Díaz, 50, judicial vicar at the church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, was stabbed to death last Wednesday evening, just minutes before the 7pm Mass he was due to celebrate.

On Friday, Fr Juan Miguel Contrera Garcia, 33, was shot dead by a group of armed assailants in his parish in the State of Jalisco.

The attack reportedly took place immediately after he had celebrated Mass.

According to the Catholic Multimedia Center, at least four priests have been slain in Mexico this year, and 23 have been murdered since 2012.

Responding to the latest deaths, Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega, Archbishop of Guadalajara said in a statement: “We make an urgent call to build a culture of peace and reconciliation. These lamentable events call all of us to a much deeper and sincere conversion.

“It is time to look honestly at our culture and society, and to ask ourselves why we have lost respect for life and for the sacred.”

The cardinal also called on the authorities to investigate the crimes and not allow it to go unpunished.

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In a piece by the editors of the magazine, the Holy book is said to be “rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it”.

They go on to claim: “Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced.

“It is repetitive, self-contradictory, sententious, foolish, and even at times ill-intentioned.”

The editors offered Agota Kristof’s The Notebook as an alternative to reading the Bible “if the thing you heard was good about the Bible was the nasty bits”.

The editors have been criticized for including the Bible on its list.

Fox News religion contributor Fr Jonathan Morris said they “took 21 books they think should be digitally burned…which doesn’t sound like a very hip thing”.

He added that the editors “throw out a lot of the best books of Western Civilization”.

The list also included The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho which the magazine said “somehow, even at 208 pages…is 207 pages too long” and included Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain as the author “was a racist”.

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