The Venerable Cherry Vann got the necessary two-thirds majority from members of the Church in Wales Electoral College on Thursday.

Archbishop of Wales, Most Rev John Davies, said the bishop elect has a huge amount to contribute to the Church in Wales.

“One area I know is very close to her heart is the church’s ministry in post-industrial areas where community life, and church life in particular perhaps, has suffered enormously,” he said.

“The diocese, a little while ago, appointed a new archdeacon with responsibility for those areas, but having a bishop with great experience of them will be a huge morale boost for them.”

Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, with the Bishop Elect, Cherry Vann.

Originally from Leicestershire, Bishop Elect Vann has served as Archdeacon of Rochdale in the Diocese of Manchester for the past eleven years.

She said the challenges facing churches in south east Wales were the same as those in the north west of England.

“We’ve done some statistics and a very, very small percentage of the population are going to our churches,” she explained.

“This is something that we have been working hard to address in the Manchester area and I look forward to bringing some of the wisdom and knowledge I’ve gained from there to Newport and the Diocese of Monmouth.

“It struck me when I read the…

Cardinal Nichols thanked the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission on Friday for giving “a clear picture of the work done in Safeguarding in the Catholic Church today”.

He said: “A glance at those reports tells a story of progress made, difficulties encountered, effort expended and challenges that lie ahead.”

While acknowledging the progress that has already been made, Cardinal Nichols stressed the importance of heeding the steps that the report has highlighted.

“At the same time the report is totally without any sense of complacency. The challenge of our response to the presence of sexual abuse within the Church continues to be urgent and of vital importance: heeding the voice and experience of survivors and responding to them; responding promptly to the surfacing of allegations; cooperating fully with public authorities; strengthening programmes of education and awareness raising.”

The president of the Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales also thanked all those involved in safe guarding provision across the Church saying: “The clarity and detail contained in the report is testimony to the hard work of many, many people, across our parishes and dioceses, mostly dedicated and trained volunteers.

“This is a story that needs to be heard.”

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Faithful in America has got more than 11,000 signatures so far in efforts to open a criminal investigation into Jerry Falwell Jr, president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. 

The group said in a statement: “Christians are appalled by recent reports about the mismanagement of Liberty University.

“We call on Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring and IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig to hold the school accountable. Open criminal investigations into accusations of self-dealing and other misconduct by Liberty’s president, Jerry Falwell, Jr., at once!”

The petition comes after an article by Politico Magazine featured several current and former top staff at the school anonymously detailing unethical behaviours from Jerry Falwell Jr.

He was accused of creating a culture of fear and directing business decisions to favour his family and friends.

Falwell, who’s one of US President Donald Trump’s advisors, has denied any wrong doing and called for the FBI to investigate a “criminal conspiracy” against him.

Faithful in America said: “Nothing about this Trump-like behaviour can be called Christian.”

The group hopes to reach 15,000 signatures by the weekend.

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The rare object, made in Limoges, France, in the 13th century, was found in 1826 in the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey in York.

It disappeared for nearly 100 years before it became part of the private collection of a German art collector in the 1920s.

The gilded and enamelled ornament will now be displayed at the Yorkshire Museum, on the site of the former abbey, after it was bought by the York Museums Trust.

The 16cm figure is believed to have been acquired from Limoges to furnish St Mary’s Abbey, which was newly built in the 13th century and was the richest abbey in the north of England.

It would have been mounted on an enamelled cross and decorated a religious object, such as a manuscript cover or a casket.

The figure is one of few objects to have survived Henry VIII’s brutal dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s and, although its hands and feet are missing, it is unusual in its completeness, as most examples of Limoges enamelwork are highly fragmentary.

The statue has the remains of enamel decoration, is embellished with stone settings on the crown, eyes and loincloth, and has delicate cast decorations on the crowned head, expressive face, finely streaked hair and beard, torso and elaborately embellished loincloth.

Curator of archeology at York Museums Trust Lucy Creighton with a rare 800-year-old figure of…

At the inquiry in Edinburgh on Thursday, Bishop of Aberdeen Hugh Gilbert was asked about convicted abuser Richard White, with whom he was photographed at a celebration in 1997.

Professor Alexis Jay, Chairwoman of The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) is pictured above.

Rt Rev Gilbert, then Abbot of Pluscarden in Moray, said: “I was aware that he had been sent to Fort Augustus from his home monastery because of allegations against him at that time.

“I think I was possibly informed about Richard White’s move but I was not a person of any status – I was a monk at Pluscarden.

“I think what happened was that I had been informed, possibly by the Abbot of Downside, that he was being sent there.”

Asked if he knew the reason why, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland told the inquiry: “Yes, at least generally.

“I think it was said that there was a reason that it was not a good idea for him to be at the school at his own monastery.”

Richard White was subsequently convicted of sexually abusing two boys in the 1980s.

Rev Gilbert said: “I think he was found guilty and that was lamentable. It must have been thought that this was a safe place to send him because there was not a school.”

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is currently hearing evidence on abuse allegations at Fort Augustus school in Inverness-shire, run by Benedictine monks before its…