Bishops' Conference of England and Wales
Archbishop Mark O’Toole, Archbishop of Cardiff-Menevia, and Bishop Peter Brignall, Bishop of Wrexham, have issued a joint statement ahead of a Senedd debate, 27 January, and vote on assisted suicide legislation.
The Bishops express their deep concern for the proposal which would “represent a profound change in how society responds to those who are terminally ill”, and propose instead to “strengthen palliative and end-of-life care so that every person can live their final days with dignity, comfort, and peace.”
On 27 January members of the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament, will be asked to decide whether Wales should give its consent to Westminster’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — a law that would legalise assisted suicide. This would be a profound change for Wales and would mean that, for the first time, doctors could be asked to assist a patient in ending their life intentionally.
If enacted, this bill would put the most vulnerable in our society at risk of coercion. The conscientious objection clause for doctors is inadequate. Furthermore, parliament has explicitly rejected an amendment whereby care homes and hospices could opt out of facilitating assisted suicide on their premises and yet many care homes and hospices will want no involvement. Even with stricter rules, experience from other countries shows that once assisted suicide is introduced, the safeguards soon loosen and those who are elderly, disabled, or feel they are a burden begin to feel subtle pressure to choose death.
Write to a Member of the Senedd
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has passed through the House of Commons and is now with the House of Lords. Our clear principled objection to the Bill remains. The House of Lords has a responsibility to scrutinise the Bill in depth and reject it if necessary.
Unlike MPs, Members of the House of Lords do not have constituents, meaning there is not a Peer whose job it is to represent you based on the area of the country in which you live. For this reason you should take some time to think about which Peer you will write to and why, such as whether you have a personal or professional connection with them, or you have professional expertise in medicine or healthcare.
Please visit this link for full guidance to help you write to a Peer.
The Holy Land Co-ordination of Episcopal Conferences in support of the Church of the Holy Land, the Holy Land Co-ordination, will take place in and around Jerusalem from Saturday, 17 January to Wednesday, 21 January 2026.
The theme for the visit, inspired by the Church’s recent Jubilee Year, is: A Land of Promise: Encounter and Dialogue with People of Hope.
The Holy Land Co-ordination is a pastoral and ecclesial gathering, rooted in prayer, reflection, and attentive listening to the Christian communities and peoples of the Holy Land. The celebration of Mass is central to each day and shapes the rhythm of the meeting.
Bishop Paul Mason, Lead Bishop for Healthcare for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has issued a statement expressing concern about a proposed clinical trial of puberty blockers involving children, saying that “vulnerable children should not be part of an experiment of the kind that will soon be starting at King’s College.”
Bishop Mason urges a path of supportive care for children experiencing gender dysphoria, rather than blocking the natural process of puberty, and warns of the ethical implications of involving children in such a trial.
“Pray with the Pope” is a new initiative of the Dicastery for Communication and the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network that invites people around the world to share in a real communion of prayer with Pope Leo XIV, offering prayer as a path to unity in a divided world.
18 January - 25 January 2026
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2026 extends an invitation to draw upon this shared Christian heritage and to delve more deeply into our fellowship in Christ, which unites Christians worldwide.
This year it takes Ephesians 4 v 1-13 as its central text which includes the words, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling.” (Ephesians 4:4). Paul’s epistles stress the importance of unity within the Church, urging us to live lives worthy of our calling with humility, gentleness, patience and love (Ephesians 4:1-3). Ephesians 4:4 summarises the teachings of Paul about unity, emphasising here, too, that the followers of Christ represent “one body and one Spirit”, united in a single hope. This metaphor signifies the Church as a unified entity transcending barriers of geography, nationality, ethnicity and tradition. Paul uses the metaphor of the Church being the Body of Christ to describe its unity within the diversity of its members.
1 February 2026
Ahead of Racial Justice Sunday 2026, Bishop Paul McAleenan, as Lead Bishop for Racial Justice, welcomes this years theme - Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:21): Promoting Racial Justice in our Parishes.
Bishop McAleenan said: “Where racial justice is concerned, we must never tire of repeating what has been said before, though we always seek new ways to convey our message. Racial Justice Sunday 2026 is devoted to the promotion of racial justice in our Catholic parishes across England and Wales and society and an encouragement to be conscious of the need for justice in all its forms.
7 - 14 February 2026
On the Feast of St Joseph, 19 March 2026, will be the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis’ Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia – “On Love in the Family.” To prepare for this anniversary, we invite you from the beginning of National Marriage Week, 7-14 February until 19 March 2026, to reflect on the central role that marriage and family life play in our Church and in wider society.
Stop the 'Up to Birth Clause (191)' in the Crime and Policing Bill that seeks to fundamentally change our laws on abortion. Please take action and make your voice heard. In June 2025, pro-abortion MPs, led by Tonia Antoniazzi MP, hijacked the Crime and Policing Bill to rush through the abortion up to birth clause (191) after just 46 minutes of backbench debate – there was no prior consultation with the public, no Committee Stage scrutiny and no evidence sessions.
The Antoniazzi clause would make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted at home for any reason, up to birth. The clause would change the law so it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, and at any point up to and during birth.
If this amendment becomes law, it would likely lead to a significant increase in the number of women performing late-term abortions at home, endangering the lives of many more women.
St George's Roman Catholic Church