The Vatican announced on Saturday that Francis ordered McCarrick to conduct a “life of prayer and penance” even before a church trial is held.

Breaking with past practice, Francis decided to act swiftly in the case of the emeritus archbishop of Washington DC even before the accusations can be investigated by church officials.

McCarrick was previously one of the highest, most well-known Catholic church officials in the United States and was heavily involved in the church’s response to allegations of priestly abuse.

The pope has ordered McCarrick’s “suspension from the exercise of any public ministry, together with the obligation to remain in a house yet to be indicated to him, for a life of prayer and penance until the accusations made against him are examined in a regular canonical trial”.

Among the boys McCarrick allegedly abused was a child he had baptised shortly after he was ordained a priest.

Francis received McCarrick’s letter offering to resign from the College of Cardinals on Friday evening, after recent weeks brought a spate of allegations that the 88-year-old prelate had for years sexually abused boys and had sexual misconduct with seminarians.

The McCarrick case posed a test of the pontiff’s recently declared resolve to battle what he called a “culture of cover-up” of similar abuses in the Catholic…

Bishop David Oyedepo spoke to members of his mega-church in Lagos about his concerns about Muhammadu Buhari not doing enough to curtail violence towards Christians in the West African nation.

He asked: “How many want the killings to continue? How many want to see pastors in churches slaughtered? How many people want to see worshippers like we had it in Benue… where two priests and 17 worshippers were slayed in cold blood and nobody was arrested?

“Even our Islamic friends in the north are calling for [the president] to resign… or are we going to watch and see one system destroy a whole nation? Enough is enough.”

According to research by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Muslim Fulani herder militia perpetrated at least 106 attacks on communities in central Nigeria in the first quarter of 2018 alone, claiming 1,061 lives.

The Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Elders Forum, Bosun Emmanuel, claimed recently that the present generation of Christians in Nigeria risk being the last.

He said Mr Buhari “is openly pursuing an anti-Christian agenda that has resulted in countless murders of Christians all over the nation and destruction of vulnerable Christian communities”.

Echoing this, Bishop David shared his advice to the Muslim president.

“The most honourable thing for any non-performing leader is to resign,” he said.

“That’s my word for Mr President – resign. Get out…

The four Christians out of 1,358 Syrian refugees recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), for resettlement in the UK were rejected. Only Muslim refugees from the war-torn country were granted permission to resettle.

The information came to light following a freedom of information request by the Barnabas Fund – a charity that supports persecuted Christians.

In a statement, the charity said: “As Barnabas Fund recently reported, of the 7,060 Syrian refugees the UNHCR recommended to the UK in 2017 only 25 were Christians (0.35 per cent). However, the Home Office only accepted eleven of these – meaning that Christians made up only 0.23 per cent of Syrian refugees resettled in the UK last year.”

The charity explained it had to “go to considerable lengths to obtain these figures in the face of what appeared to be a sustained attempt by Home Office officials to avoid their release”.

The information was provided following the charity taking the “extreme step of obtaining an order from the Information Commissioner’s Office threatening the Home Office with contempt of court proceedings in the High Court”.

The statement went on to say: “It is widely accepted that Christians, who constituted around 10 per cent of Syria’s pre-war population, were specifically targeted by jihadi rebels and continue to be at…

Lord Carey, former archbishop of Canterbury, resigned as honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Oxford after a damning review last year found that senior Church of England officials colluded with Peter Ball, who abused young men.

Bishop Peter Hancock, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, said he was not consulted on the decision to grant Lord Carey Permission to Officiate (PTO) – allowing him to preach and give communion in his ownchurch – earlier this year, and would have advised against it.

He told BBC Radio 4 programme Sunday: “My understanding is the national safeguarding team were not consulted, I’m sure that’s right.

“I think both I and the national safeguarding team would have advised that that was not the right action to take.”

Dr George Carey (left), the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop Peter Hancock, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop.

He added: “I regret it (the decision to grant the PTO) not because I want to intervene in matters that relate to another diocese, but just because what I hear from those I speak to, which are the victims, the survivors, those who are particularly troubled by thechurch’s actions, that see this, perceive this and believe this to be something which has caused them more distress and it’s for that reason…