Sneaking in on the penultimate day of January is the first At the Foot of the Cross podcast of 2026.
Ordinarily we’d have Abbot Hugh Allan, our Director of Mission, in the studio to discuss the latest from the secretariat of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, but unfortunately he’s on the road doing the real work so it’s a different format this time around.
Plenty of Episcopal news since our last podcast with Installations and Ordinations on the horizon. Firstly, just before Christmas, Pope Leo XIV announced that Archbishop-elect Richard Moth, until then the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, would be the next Archbishop of Westminster succeeding Cardinal Vincent Nichols. Archbishop-elect Richard will be installed the twelfth Archbishop of Westminster in the Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood on Saturday, 14 February.
Monday, 2 February sees the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop-elect Gerard Bradley as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Southwark.
The third piece of diocesan news is to offer thanks to Bishop Terence Drainey who has retired after almost 18 years leading the Diocese of Middlesbrough. Bishop Marcus Stock has been appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese, whilst retaining his current office as Bishop of Leeds.
In other news, we’ve just had the Holy Land Co-ordination – a pilgrimage of hope and encounter to the lands of Christ attended by Bishops from around the world. It’s a pastoral and ecclesial gathering, rooted in prayer, reflection, and attentive listening to the Christian communities and peoples of the Holy Land. It was led by Bishop Nicholas Hudson who is the moderator of the group, recently installed Bishop of Plymouth, and we also had Bishop Jim Curry as part of the delegation – Bishop Jim is our Lead Bishop for the Holy Land as well as being a Westminster Auxiliary Bishop.
If you want to find out more, watch some of the video interviews with the people we met, or read the Bishops’ final communique please visit our Holy Land Co-ordination content.
The Holy Land is our focus for this At the Foot of the Cross podcast, so today you’ll hear from Bishops Hudson and Curry with some audio recorded in Jerusalem. Firstly, Bishop Nicholas Hudson reflects on a meeting with Bedouin tribes in Palestine. Then Bishop Jim Curry talks about Sunday Mass in Taybeh in the West Bank and also gives his reflections after listening to Jewish perspectives advocating for a lasting peace with justice in the Holy Land.
Continuing the theme, we hear from Fleur Dorrell our Biblical Apostolate manager who, inspired by the Holy Land Co-ordination, explores travel in the Bible and, in particular, the importance of the river Jordan.
But that’s not all for this month. Pope Leo has proclaimed 2026 as a special ‘Year of St. Francis of Assisi’ – a Franciscan Jubilee Year. With more on this, and a new monthly strand for the podcast – Little Brother Francis – we listen to our Senior Media Officer Steph MacGillivray.
Next month’s podcast will be back to it’s usual place of the middle of the month.
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