Sunday

As the Pope apologises for using a homophobic slur, we hear from an openly gay priest, Fr James Alison, who claims that in the Catholic Church a majority of the clergy is homosexual. We also hear the views of the Pope’s biographer, Austen Ivereigh. Ahead of commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, the historian Sarah Meyrick tells us about the men who went ashore unarm...

The way many Muslims have voted in the local elections this week has raised some difficult questions for Labour. We hear from Shaista Aziz one of ten Labour councillors in Oxford who resigned in the autumn over the party's position on the Gaza conflict, and Stephen Fisher, Professor of Political Sociology at Oxford University, on what it could mean for a general election. Lama Rod Owens is one of...

As the malaria vaccine is rolled out across sub Saharan Africa, medical experts are concerned about the impact of anti vaccine sermons from influential religious figures. An example is Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, a multi-millionaire televangelist in Nigeria whose promotion of anti-vax conspiracy theories risks undercutting the country's efforts to deal with malaria. William Crawley speaks to Julius O...

Parishioner's in Gaza’s only Roman Catholic church are marking Easter Sunday with some extra pomp and pageantry but basically as they do everyday, with prayers for food and a ceasefire. More than 500 people have been sheltering in the Holy Family Church since the outbreak of war. They’re part of the dwindling Christian community in Gaza who’ve stuck together for protection and ignored warnings to...

Faith leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Vincent Nichols have welcomed a new report which calls for better support for asylum seekers. It comes from a commission set up to consider how refugees might be helped to integrate into society more easily. It makes a series of recommendations and suggests that the current system creates barriers to asylum seekers who want to quick...

Pope Francis says he won't resign, in his new autobiography released this week. We hear from the host of the "Inside the Vatican" podcast Colleen Dulle, who's read it. Should young children fast during Ramadan? We visit a school making arrangements for its Muslim pupils and hear from an Imam and GP. What role does religion play in the mass kidnappings in Nigeria? More than 250 children were abduct...

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is normally a time of fasting, family and prayer for Muslims around the world. How can the people of Gaza observe Ramadan in the middle of conflict, displacement and desperate food shortages? Ghada Ouda, a journalist in Rafah in the south of Gaza, tells us about her preparations. The first ever helpline in the UK dedicated to people leaving controlling groups or ex...

More than 100 Palestinians died trying to get food from an aid convoy earlier in the week. We hear from Gaza's small Christian minority, most of whom have been sheltering in two churches, as well as from ICRC's Matt Morris on the challenges aid agencies face in getting aid across to a people on the brink of starvation. The 26-year-old artist claimed a record-breaking six prizes, including Best Art...

Some of the Vatican’s secrets have been revealed in a new book, ”Secretum”, by Massimo Franco. It’s in the form of a series of conversations with Archbishop Sergio Pagano, who has worked in the Vatican archive for 45 years. From stories of Vatican intrigue to a letter written in 1530 by English nobles urging Pope Clement VII to grant Henry VIII an annulment so he could marry Anne Boleyn, Massimo F...

Israeli troops are set to advance into the Gazan city of Rafah, defying international pleas to reconsider. Some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering there. The UK House of Bishops is calling for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict. The Sunday programme spoke to Bishop of Worchester Dr John Inge. Sir Keir Starmer has defended his handling of the antisemitism row in his party as a Muslim candi...

Sunday's interview last week with Weymouth Baptist Church has led to a great deal of debate about whether church leaders are backing fraudulent asylum claims. The home secretary is now investigating how the asylum system deals with migrants who have converted to Christianity. We talk to the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani on the churches role in asylum. Religious leaders across diffe...

The issue of converting asylum seekers to Christianity has been in the headlines this week with accusations that some clergy are naive or too eager to help asylum seekers stay in the country. We talk to a Baptist elder with experience of converting and helping asylum seekers. Jaz from Traitors won the respect of TV audiences with the way he played the gameshow, but he revealed it was his Sikh fait...

The Church of England is facing renewed criticism following its decision to close its own Independent Safeguarding Board last year. At the time, church authorities said they closed the board in order to replace it with a more independent and more effective body. But some victims and survivors of abuse say that decision left them feeling abandoned, silenced and re-traumatised. William Crawley hears...

Sunday hears from George Antone from Catholic aid agency Caritas, a member of Holy Family Church in Gaza City. He's one of around 400 parishioners taking shelter in the church and tells us about problems finding food and receiving aid to keep going amidst the war. Would an entry fee put you off visiting a cathedral? One in four now charge in England. William hears from listeners as well as the Ver...

Pope Francis has called for a global ban on surrogacy, saying it is the commercialisation of pregnancy and a threat to human dignity. Edward Stourton hears the experiences of a couple and their surrogate and explores the ethics of surrogacy with Christian ethicist Dr Helen Watt and fertility lawyer Natalie Gamble. The Houthis in Yemen have been carrying out a campaign of drone and missile attacks...

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have conducted a wide-ranging survey on perceptions of religion and science, which suggests that half the UK population believes that religion does more harm than good. 50% of respondents said religion 'has more negative societal consequences than positive', 30% said it 'has more positive societal consequences' and 20% didn’t know. We discuss the finding...

Emily Buchanan presents the final edition of Radio 4's Sunday programme of 2023, and brings together a panel of guests from different faiths to discuss the stand out events of the last year and also look forward to the issues and stories they expect everyone will be talking about in 2024. New figures from the charity Shelter indicate a sharp rise in homelessness. More than 300,000 people are thoug...

Edward Stourton presents a special Christmas Eve edition of Sunday, featuring live carols from Manchester Chamber Choir. On Christmas Eve in 1223, in cave near the cliffside village of Greccio in Italy, St Francis of Assisi created what's thought to be the first nativity scene. It was staged for the local villagers and it was a 'living scene' featuring people and animals. Colm Flynn reports from G...

Security corresponent Frank Gardner has the latest from Tel Aviv as Lord Cameron calls for a 'sustainable ceasefire' in the war between Israel and Hamas. In the midst of the Covid inquiry and following the government’s response, last week, to the 2017 Hillsborough report, it seems public inquiries are constantly in the news. But what is their purpose and what are the ethics of inquiry? From today,...

Eight hundred Christians have been sheltering in two churches in Gaza City since the beginning of the war, with warnings that supplies are running low. Nader Abu Amshah from the Middle East Council of Churches has been in regular contact with them. ‘American Sikh’ is a short animated film about an ordinary New Yorker who is viewed with suspicion after 9/11 because of his beard and turban. One day...

Faith is front and centre at Cop28 this weekend. The Pope may have missed the climate summit because of health problems but for the first time at the gathering , a Faith Pavilion has been erected. Edward looks at the role religions can play in mobilising support for action on climate change. Hear about the near death experience involving bright lights and angelic figures that turned a manual labou...

As tension builds in the Middle East over the much anticipated truce between Israel and Gaza, we look at the latest in the developing situation. The armed wing of Hamas said on Saturday it was delaying the handover of a second group of hostages as part of a temporary ceasefire deal until Israel “adheres to the terms of the agreement”. We'll also hear from Rachel Goldberg, whose 23-year-old son Her...

This week Church of England leaders voted narrowly to allow special services of blessing for gay couples. At a meeting in London, the church’s General Synod approved the move on a trial basis. It has been a hugely divisive issue and there are fears that it could split the church. Equality campaigners insist that gay Anglicans should be able to marry in church like everyone else. But some conservat...

William Crawley talks to interfaith experts about navigating Jewish-Muslim relations against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war. As we celebrate 400 years of the publication of Shakespeare's first folio, Professor Regina Schwartz, an expert in both explains how 'Love thy neighbour' is central to understanding the Bard and the Bible. Hear about the Diwali baskets being made in Birmingham to celeb...

William Crawley has the latest on events in Israel-Gaza. He’ll also be discussing use of scripture in war rhetoric with two experts after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referenced the Bible earlier this week. Also on the programme, a Sikh man who felt discriminated against when he was barred from doing jury service because of his religious sword. Are bells the soothing sound of Sunday...