Boko Haram attacks two churches
THE Islamist group Boko Haram has said that it was responsible for attacks on two churches in Nigeria on Sunday. Reuters reported that Islamist militants shot at the congregation of a church in Biu Town, in the north-eastern state of Borno, killing at least one person; and a car was blown up outside another church in the city of Jos, wounding 41 people. On Tuesday, the General Secretary of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ, in Nigeria, appealed for churches “to pray for peace in our country and for wisdom in building communities for peace”.
Denmark approves same-sex marriage
The Danish parliament passed a law on Thursday of last week granting same-sex couples the right to marry. The law, which comes into force today, covers weddings in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark, which is the state Church. Eight bishops from the Church presented a ritual for same-sex marriage ceremonies to the country’s Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs on Monday (Press).
Representative to Holy See to retire
THE Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See, the Very Revd David Richardson, will retire at Easter next year, Lambeth Palace announced on Tuesday. Dean Richardson, who will be 67 next year, is also the director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. Dr Williams said: “David has been a quite outstanding director of the Anglican Centre for the last five years, a period covering both the Lambeth Conference and the Pope’s visit to the UK.”
Turin Shroud is ‘one of 40’
A CHURCH historian said this week that the Turin Shroud was just one of “at least 40” purported burial cloths of Jesus. Professor Antonio Lombatti, of the Università Popolare, in Italy, said that most of the burial cloths “were destroyed in the French Revolution”.