News
Christmas season left Victorian shop workers 'more dead than alive'
Many of our festive traditions â from exchanging cards and pulling crackers to decorating trees â were popularised by the Victorians.
Charles Dickens and the birth of the classic English Christmas dinner
Charles Dickens popularised the traditional, English Christmas in 1843 in his novel A Christmas Carol, when Bob Cratchit and his family sit down on Christmas Day to eat a dinner of goose with mashed potatoes and apple sauce accompanied by sage and onion stuffing and followed by Christmas pudding.
Indonesian rescuers use drones, sniffer dogs as tsunami death toll rises
Indonesian rescuers on Tuesday used drones and sniffer dogs to search for survivors along the devastated west coast of Java.
'The Numinous Woman': How a Cornish poet caught the mystery of the Incarnation
One of the most intriguing of Christmas poems is not as well known as it should be.
Remember the poor and shun materialism, pope says on Christmas Eve
Francis, 82 led a solemn service for nearly 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica for his traditional Christmas Eve Mass.
Good news of great joy: Immanuel has come
I remember my first Santa Claus doubts. How could a fat man get down a skinny chimney, not just at our house, but at the houses of little boys and girls all over the world?
Tight security at Pakistan's churches this Christmas as Asia Bibi remains in hiding
Security has been ramped up at churches across Pakistan where tensions are still simmering over the recent acquittal of Christian woman Asia Bibi.
Nigeria's president plays down violence against Christians in Christmas message
Nigeria's president gave only a weak nod to the Christian communities being devastated by brutal attacks in his Christmas message to the nation.
Christian Aid partner sends crisis team in aftermath of Indonesia tsunami
Christian Aid's partner in Indonesia is on the ground in Sumatra helping survivors of a deadly tsunami.
Libyan authorities exhume bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christian martyrs
The bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christians executed in Libya by Islamic State (IS) in 2015 have been exhumed from a mass grave, Libyan authorities said on Monday.
Pilgrims converge on Bethlehem to celebrate Jesus' birth
The Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is enjoying its busiest Christmas in years, with hotels nearly fully booked and the security situation relatively calm.
Hong Kong Christians wear black to protest China church closures
Christians in Hong Kong are coming to church dressed all in black as a protest against mainland China's crackdown on prominent congregations.
What has Isaiah's Immanuel prophecy got to do with the birth of Jesus?
What's gone before is a picture of muddle and confusion, fear, politics, war, destruction and hunger. We skip all that and go straight to the nice bit.
The lost message of Christmas: Why we need to read Matthew 1
One passage that's never, ever read at the carol service is Matthew 1: 1-17.
Why I don't care about putting on a perfect Christmas
There is nothing wrong with excelling at hospitality and there is certainly nothing wrong with opening up our lives to share with others in need.
Modern-day Marys: How millions of mothers need to hear a message of liberation
Traditional Christmas stories suggest a serene invitation to turn inwards towards the glowing Christ child, to leave the harsh realities outside.