Police are investigating at least four incidents where Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal collection boxes were stolen or broken into in the days before or after Remembrance Sunday.

Around £100 was seized from three donation boxes at St Thomas’ Leesfield Church in the Lees area of Greater Manchester (pictured below) on Saturday night.

Roy Atkinson, deputy warden of the church, was quoted by the Manchester Evening News as saying: “It’s disgusting anyone could do that.”

In Cornwall, officers were called to St Blaise Parish Church in St Austell (pictured below), where approximately £25 was taken from a Poppy Appeal collection.

Windows were broken during the incident, which happened sometime between 1pm last Thursday and 2pm the next day, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

Four donation containers, including two Poppy Appeal boxes, were stolen from St Botolph’s Church in Boston, Lincolnshire (pictured top, left) in two incidents.

The first occurred at 12.15pm last Friday, while the second took place at around 3pm yesterday.

Approximately £50 worth of donations were taken from a collection tin at Christ Church on London Road in Cosham, Hampshire sometime between 4pm on Friday 3rd November and 9am the following day.

PC David Ronchetti was quoted by the Southern Daily Echo as saying: “This is a particularly…

Part of the funds raised from the auction at Sotheby’s will go to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN )to help with its work rebuilding Christian settlements on the Nineveh Plains destroyed by Islamic State (IS).

The project helps displaced Christians, who have been dependent on emergency aid since 2014, to go back to their original towns and villages.

Alfredo Mantovano and Alessandro Monteduro, president and director of ACN (Italy), said in a statement: “We have thanked the Holy Father and assured him that we will use his gift well – by bringing thousands more Christians back to Nineveh.”

The sleek, white car with yellow-gold markings was delivered to the Vatican on Wednesday morning.

ACN has thanked the sports-car maker Lamborghini.

The president and director of ACN (Italy) stated: “The gift to the Pope by the car manufacturer is a good example of how big companies can actually help Christians who suffer.”

The funds will also benefit two other charities; one helps migrant women who are victims of modern day slavery and prostitution, and the other helps those stricken by poverty in Africa.

The billionaire megastar opened up in an interview on the Harry Connick Jr show about prayer and faith, and responded to criticism of what her beliefs are.

She explained: “You know what my prayer is? My prayer is, ‘Use me’.

“I used to pray that prayer every day. When you pray that prayer you will be met with the answer.”

The talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist also shared a time in her life that she doubted her abilities.

During this time, she said the song by Judson W Van DeVenter helped her to trust God would help her.

Speaking about the hymn, she said: “This song is so important to me because I never wanted anything more than I wanted to be in the film The Color Purple.

“And I had been told that I wasn’t going to be in the film.

“And I had gone away and I was running around on the track one day and I was just praying and often this is what I know happens – when you can surrender it to the power that’s greater than yourself, whatever it is you’ve been pushing up against, whatever it is you’ve been fighting, you release it to that which is greater, which is God and things show up.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccWjGicTYc8]

Ms Winfrey said she prayed and sang the song and then got a call that Stephen Spielberg – the director of the big-screen adaptation of the book – wanted to meet her in his office.

She made her on-screen debut as Sofia on the 1985 film shortly after landing her own talk show.

Ms Winfrey ended her segment on the talk-show by singing ‘I surrender all’ as the…