The country’s capital, Antananarivo was filled with worshippers waving yellow and white ‘Vatican’ flags, many of whom had camped out over night to see the Catholic leader.

Catholics make up 35 percent of Madagascar’s population of 26 million people.

Addressing the crowd, the Pontiff spoke out against “practices that lead to the culture of privilege and exclusion”, and condemned those who “abused the name of God” to justify acts of murder and violence.

Referencing Luke’s gospel, he said: “”When ‘family’ becomes the decisive criterion for what we consider right and good, we end up justifying and even ‘consecrating’ practices that lead to the culture of privilege and exclusion: favouritism, patronage and – as a consequence – corruption”.

“The Master demands that we see beyond this. He says this clearly: anyone incapable of seeing others as brothers or sisters, of showing sensitivity to their lives and situations regardless of their family, cultural or social background ‘cannot be my disciple’ His devoted love is a free gift given to all and meant for all.”

Pope Francis concluded his homily with a prayer: “May this humble realism – it is a realism, a Christian realism – inspire us to take on great challenges and give you the desire to make your beautiful country a place where the Gospel becomes life, and where life is for the greater glory of God.

The Pontiff’s visit…

Worshippers from St Jude’s Church in Southsea, together with St Simon’s Church, St Margaret’s Church, the Vineyard Church, the Methodists and Kings Church in Southsea re-created the feeding of the 5,000 as part of a free community festival.

120 volunteers gave out free food to members of the public together with a copy of the story recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as part of the #Feeding5K event.

The initiative was organised to bring to life Jesus’ miracle of feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish and encourage people to consider his life and works.

Speaking before the event, Rev Neil Smart of St Jude’s Church said: “We want to put Jesus back at the centre of the life of our city by showing that he still does miracles among us today.”

The community festival included live music from Christian singer Jessie Dipper, talks, interviews, and specialist activities for kids and youth.

The event was financially supported by the Love Portsmouth Fund and the Portsmouth Diocese’s Mission Opportunities Fund.

Thousands of passers-by were fed as Southsea churches recreated one of Jesus’s miracles. The #Feeding5k event involved 5,000 freshly-battered cod in bread rolls being handed out – plus live music, games, kids’ activities and a samba band. Details: https://t.co/u6cMgAOOOL pic.twitter.com/9kwg9SIJDZ

— Portsmouth Diocese (@CofEPortsmouth)

It comes as the UK is due to host The Defence and Security Equipment International Fair (DSEI), one of the world’s largest arms fairs which connects governments and armed forces with the arms industry, at the London Excel next week.

Bishop Declan Lang, who is the Chair of the Department for International Affairs says the decision to host the event undermines the UK’s humanitarian efforts.

“It is a contradiction for our government to speak of promoting human rights while inviting authoritarian regimes to the UK for one of the world’s largest arms fairs.

“As a nation, we claim to support refugees and oppose persecution, while simultaneously selling weapons to those responsible for killing innocent civilians and driving families from their homes.”

Bishop Declan says the government should not be facilitating regimes that abuse the human rights the UK fights for.

“The government has a moral duty to observe and strengthen its arms control regulations and international obligations, rather than arming the same regimes that it vocally criticises for human rights abuses.

Three Christian activists were arrested on Tuesday for protesting against the London arms fair as part of the ‘No faith in War’ campaign.

Christian Climate Action member Angela Ditchfield, was one of those arrested and said: “As the climate and ecological emergency worsens, more and more people will be…

The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to criminalise religious conversion in the northern Indian state.

The Bill, which was passed on 30th August intends to extend a law that was introduced in 2006 which criminalised conversion by “fraud,” “force” and “inducement,” by adding “coercion” to its terms.

Inducement has also been redefined under the new bill as the “offer of any temptation in the form of any gift or gratification or material benefit, either in cash or kind or employment, free education in reputed school run by any religious body, easy money, better lifestyle, divine pleasure or otherwise.”

Freedom charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide have raised concerns over the wording of the amended terms, saying their loose definition could leave them open to misuse.

Anyone found attempting to convert a person from one religion to another in the Himalayan region could face up to seven years in prison, compared to three years under the old law.

The proposed law would also not recognise the marriage of two people from previously different religions, where a conversion has taken place either before or after their wedding day.

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas has spoken out against the new legislation, saying: “This Bill is a clear expression of the state’s intention to restrict the right to freedom of religion or belief. As a multi-ethnic nation made up of diverse religious groups, India must respect the right to freedom of thought,…

The Business Secretary and former Leader of the House of Commons says John Bercow – who has the highest authority in the House of Commons and chairs MPs’ debates, has failed to uphold his position and permitted a “flagrant abuse” of parliamentary process.

The Speaker has a responsibility to remain impartial and uphold parliamentary order.

It comes after MP’s backed a motion to take control of the Commons timetable to pass legislation aimed at blocking a no-deal Brexit.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday Leadsom said the Speaker’s role was to be “a politically impartial, independent umpire of proceedings” who was in place “to protect the constitution and oversee the behaviour of the House.”

“But last week, the current Speaker failed us.”

She argued that by allowing the urgent debate, a move which meant opposition and rebel MPs could pass a law blocking a no-deal Brexit, Bercow “didn’t just bend the rules, he broke them” and gave “power to the Opposition”.

Leadsom went on the say that the “inappropriate” use of Standing Order No24 – the rule to apply for an emergency debate – undermined governance and the vote of the British public.

“It was intended to ram through legislation for purely political reasons,” she added.

In response to Bercow’s actions the Conservative Party will field a candidate in his constituency of Buckingham at the next election, according to…

Spurgeon’s College made the announcement last month that some students would not be able to access funds from the Student Loans Company.

The Office for Students (OfS) turned down the college’s registration application, after it failed its financial sustainability test.

Trustees of the Baptist Union decided to set aside £200,000 to replace Student Loans and Grants that would have been available to Spurgeon’s College students.

Baptist Union spokesperson Richard Wilson, told Premier they wanted to ensure those training to be ministers didn’t have their studies interrupted.

He said: “We were very worried about the decision that had been made by the OfS and the implication for students who were planning to start their courses this September.

“We’re very anxious that college students, Baptist union ministerial students, shouldn’t be disadvantaged by this difficult situation.

“We’re very keen to see new ministers going through training and fulfilling their calling.

He went on to say that the training of new ministers was essential for the health of the Church.

“We’re seeing, like all denominations, a number of our ministers are coming towards retirement. And so we are seeing our pool of ministers declining, we want to be refreshing that with new ministers coming through training,

“We all know that good leadership is essential to churches. So it was not a difficult decision…

The French village of Lourdes became a sacred pilgrimage site in 1858, after visions of the Virgin Mary were first reported there.

The Virgin Mary is said to have urged Saint Bernadette of Lourdes to drink and bathe in water from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle.

Approximately six million people visit the site annually, in the hopes of receiving a miracle.

Although around 7000 people claim to have been miraculously healed there, only 70 have been officially certified by both the Catholic Church and the Lourdes Medical Bureau.

Kazik Stepan visited the holy site as a teenager after being diagnosed with an inoperable tumour on his spinal cord that left him unable to walk. He claims he was healed from the decease when he bathed in the natural spring on Saint Bernadette’s Birthday, a sacred feast day in 1965.

The International Medical Committee of Lourdes will be accompanying Stepan at Lourdes to verify his miracle. To do this, Stepans previous condition must first be proved to be incurable.

If the miracle is confirmed, Stepan will become the first official Briton to have been cured at the Roman Catholic site.

The case will be broadcast on Songs of Praise on 15^th September.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.