Pope Francis told the Moderator of the General Assembly, the Right Rev Dr Derek Browning, that the Catholic Church andChurch of Scotland enjoy a relationship of “mutual understanding, trust and cooperation.”

The two men met for the first time at the Vatican in Rome on Thursday, during the year that marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Dr Browning presented the Pope with a Church of Scotland Guild tartan scarf, a basket of Scottish produce and a special edition of a book about the history of St Columba and Iona Abbey.

Addressing the Moderator, Pope Francis said: “Let us thank the Lord for the great gift of being able to live this year in true fraternity, no longer as adversaries, after long centuries of estrangement and conflict.

“This has been possible, with God’s grace, by the ecumenical journey that has enabled us to grow in mutual understanding, trust and cooperation.

“The mutual purification of memory is one of the most significant fruits of this common journey.

“The past cannot be changed, yet today we at last see one another as God sees us.”

Pope Francis, who also received Rev Dr George Whyte, principal clerk to the General Assembly, Rev Dr John McPake, the Church’s ecumenical officer and the Moderator’s chaplain, Anne Mulligan DCS, said all Christians were brothers and sisters.

Dr Browning told the Pope that the Church of Scotland wanted both denominations to work together for the…

The collection at the Holocaust Memorial Centre in Budapest was officially opened by the UK Ambassador to Hungary, Iain Lindsay in honour of Jane Haining.

Speaking at the official launch, Mr Lindsay (pictured above) said: “This is a fitting moment to pay tribute to Jane through this very special exhibition in this very special place.”

Originally from Dunscore in Dumfries and Galloway, Miss Haining made her home in the Hungarian capital, where she worked at the city’s Scottish Mission School as a boarding house matron.

Later betrayed, the Presbyterian was taken to the Auschwitz and Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, where she died in 1944.

Rev Aaron Stevens (pictured below, right with Rev Iain Cunningham) from St Colombus Church in Budapest, which is now next to the old Scottish Mission School site v – now a state-run primary school – said Miss Haining set other Christians a powerful example.

He told Premier: “The times she endured were difficult ones for her and for the girls that she took care of; anti-Semitism was prevalent and encodified in law.

“She showed real courage by remaining with the girls when she could have gone back to safety in Scotland and, in fact, she had been instructed to do so.

“To see someone who stands by her convictions and who remains with people in trouble even if it puts…

John Bercow’s comments came during questions to Tory MP Dame Caroline Spelman, who represents the Church of England in the Commons, about the Church’s progress in the issue.

She said: “The Church of England is well on its way to reaching its target in 2020 when we hope to see 50 per cent of women in the priesthood and indeed we have the highest level of ordinants for ten years, an increase of 14 per cent since last year and there has been a particularly strong increase, a 19 per cent increase in women entering training compared to 2016.”

Conservative MP Chris Davies welcomed the progress the Church had made increasing female clergy members, but added: “What steps are the Church taking to ensure the diversity of those being considered for ordination better reflects the country as a whole?”

Dame Caroline replied: “We should not overlook the need to draw more people from different ethnic backgrounds and the church has strategies looking to increase the number of black and ethnic minority ordinants, the numbers are currently only 3.3 per cent of clergy.”

The Church of England appointed a senior figure to drive up the proportion of black and ethnic minority clergy in 2016, against a backdrop of data showing the church was failing to match national demographics.

As well as increasing the number of black and minority ethnic (BAME) clergy, the church also wants to attract more women and younger people.

Mr Bercow told…