This means that the highest paid worker at the organisation that manages the assets of the Church received 23 times more than the lowest earner.

The Church paid record bonuses of more than £1m in 2018 to the asset managers who look after its wealth.

In the same year, Archbishop Justin Welby condemned wealth inequality when he sat on the Commission on Economic Justice.

Speaking last year at the launch of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) economic justice commission report, Archbishop Justin said: “Everyone is better off when the rewards of the economy are more fairly shared.

“So a core message of the Commission is that a fairer economy is a stronger economy.

“But redistributing the results of economic growth is no longer sufficient to confront the challenges of today’s economy.

“Justice must be ‘hard-wired’ into the processes of production and consumption – in the labour market, in corporate governance and the ownership of assets, and in the rules of the market.”

The commission insists that it manages the Church’s £8.2 billion investment fund “responsibly and ethically”.

A spokesperson for the Church Commissioners told the Daily Mail: “Despite a challenging market environment, the commissioners produced a positive return and our tenth year of positive returns.”

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Restaurant and gift shop owners on the Île de la Cité have reported a significant decrease in sales following the fire last month and are calling on the government to intervene.

With many local traders claiming a 70% drop in revenue and some being forced to close their doors for weeks at a time, the economy minister, Bruno Le Maire held a meeting last week to address the problem.

According to The Times, Mr Le Maire has said between 25 and 30 businesses have suffered ‘considerable losses, sometimes as much as 100%’.

He said: “For all these businesses, which are often family-run, I am proposing very direct and very personalised help.”

A second meeting is set to take place next month.

The tourism slump is in part due to the decision made by The Paris Council to close the Notre Dame forecourt and surrounding streets after the blaze.

Mr Le Maire said the government may consider delays to tax payments and possible compensation to support struggling traders.

Restoration of the cathedral is expected to take five years according to President Macron, but many architects suspect the work will take much longer.

Some are asking for plans to be made to draw tourists back to the area and allow prayers to continue on the Notre Dame forecourt during the restoration period.

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A common supposition – that of the purposeless disbeliever, lacking anything to ascribe ultimate meaning to the universe – does not bear scrutiny, a university study said.

Most endorse objective moral values and human dignity at similar rates to the general populations in their countries, the report presented at the Vatican said.

One of the authors, University of Kent sociologist Dr Lois Lee, said: “These findings show once and for all that the public image of the atheist is a simplification at best, and a gross caricature at worst.

“Instead of relying on assumptions about what it means to be an atheist, we can now work with a real understanding of the many different world views that the atheist population includes.

“The implications for public and social policy are substantial – and this study also stands to impact on more everyday interactions in religiously diverse societies.”

The research is supported by a £2.3 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation and is led by the University of Kent in collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast, St Mary’s University Twickenham, and Coventry University.

The global Understanding Unbelief programme to advance the scientific understanding of atheism and non-religion will present the results from its research at the Vatican in Rome.

The multidisciplinary research programme maps the nature and diversity of “unbelief”…

Most of the victims were schoolgirls who were lined up at a bus stop near Noborito Park in the city of Kawasaki when the man in his 40s or 50s, carrying a knife in each hand, began slashing them.

An official at the Kawasaki city office told the AP that 16 people, most of them schoolgirls, were wounded and three others, including the attacker, were believed to have died.

The official said three of the injuries were serious and 13 others were not life-threatening.

NHK national television, quoting police, said that the suspect died after cutting himself in the neck.

Police would not immediately confirm the specifics of that report.

Most of the victims attended a private school founded by Soeurs de la Charite de Quebec, an organisation of Catholic nuns in Quebec City in Canada.

A witness told the Mainichi newspaper that he heard children shrieking after walking past a bus, and when he turned around, he saw a man wielding a knife in each hand, screaming “I will kill you” and that several children were on the ground.

NHK, citing police, said that a bus driver told officials that a man holding a knife in each hand walked toward the bus and started slashing children.

NHK also interviewed a witness who said he saw the suspect trying to force his way onto a bus.

The attacker’s identity and motives were not immediately known.

Television footage showed emergency workers giving…

Leaders of the Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian churches issued a statement announcing the project to restore the foundations and flooring of the church, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, entombed and resurrected.

A Greek team headed the 2016 restoration project to preserve the aedicule, a large structure inside the church housing the tomb.

The upcoming second rehabilitation project will involve two Italian institutions.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is shared by multiple Christian sects under a status quo management agreement.

Even perceived alterations to the status quo have resulted in arguments or violence.

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