Anne Thomas

• Stop The Traffik welcomes Mars pledge on workers rights

  Campaigners against human trafficking have welcomed the decision by chocolate maker Mars to ensure that all cocoa in its chocolate is made under Rainforest Alliance certification by 2020.

• British politicians add signatures to CSW’s Burma petition

  Top British politicians have added their names to a petition by Christian Solidarity Worldwide urging the UN Secretary General to make the release of thousands of political prisoners in Burma his personal priority.

• Mission to Seafarers announces new Secretary General

  The Rev Tom Heffer has been announced as Mission to Seafarers’ new Secretary General.

• Pope would have quit if captured by Nazis

  Pope Pius XII, who led the Roman Catholic Church during the Second World War, told leading bishops that if he was ever captured by the Nazis his resignation would take immediate effect and that the Church leadership would move to another country.

• Pakistani Archbishop concerned by sharia deal

  The Archbishop of Lahore, Lawrence John Saldanha, has written to the prime minister and president of Pakistan over concerns at the implementation of sharia law in the northwest of the country.

• Church celebrates martyr with Welsh mass

  St Teilo’s Church at the Museum of Welsh Life in St Fagans will conduct a mass in the Welsh language for the first time in 500 years to celebrate the life of St John Robert of Trawsfynydd, a notable Catholic martyred in 1610.

• CPAS hopes to bring more under-30s into ordained ministry

  Mission agency CPAS hopes its newly appointed vocations expert will help boost the number of under-30s entering into ordained ministry.

• Orissa's Christian voters face intimidation

  There have been reports that voters in Orissa State in India have been subjected to intimidation and have been forced to vote for the Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

• Children in Northern Ireland twice as likely to pray

  Children in Northern Ireland are twice as likely to pray regularly as children in other parts of the UK, according to a new survey.

• Pope wishes Orthodox Christians happy Easter

  Pope Benedict XVI has wished Orthodox Christians a happy Easter.

• Humanist joins BBC committee on religious broadcasting

  A new independent body set up to liaise with the BBC on its religious broadcasting is to include a humanist.

• Mission groups fear spread of Taliban in Pakistan

  The Taliban takeover of the Swat valley in Pakistan is likely to expand to cover all of the country if it continues unchecked and will mean worsening conditions for Christians in the country, say mission groups.