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Religion & Ethics

A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week

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Sunday: Bethlehem's quiet Christmas, Cardinal Pell's prison journal, Choir's Covid test

20/12/2020

Bethlehem's quiet Christmas, Cardinal Pell's prison journal, Choir's Covid test

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday, Bethlehem's quiet Christmas, Cardinal Pell's prison journal, Choir's Covid test

A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week with Edward Stourton.

There's plenty of room this year in Bethlehem as the city celebrates a very different Christmas and Cardinal George Pell tells Edward about his journals written inside prison.

Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem have begun their Christmas celebrations under strict restrictions following a surge in corona virus cases in the occupied West Bank.  As Yolande Knell reports, church leaders say Bethlehem will continue with its festivities to try to send a hopeful message to the world.

In 2019 Cardinal George Pell was sentenced to six years in prison for 'historical sexual assault offences'. Earlier this year the Australian High Court voted 7-0 to overturn the original convictions. In a frank interview, the man who was once the third most powerful person in the Catholic Church reflects on his time inside jail, what he feels about his past handling of abuse allegations and the man whose accusations put him behind bars for 404 days.

And the full choir of Leicester Cathedral have all been booked in for rapid Covid tests on Sunday morning. The Dean, the Very Rev David Monteith tells Edward why it will be such a momentous moment if the choir can sing together for the first time since March.

Producers:
David Cook
Dan Tierney

Series Producer:
Amanda Hancox

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Bethlehem's quiet Christmas, Cardinal Pell's prison journal, Choir's Covid test

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