THE Bishop of Portsmouth urged churchgoers to pray for the world’s leaders after observing rows about how NATO countries might support Ukraine.

Bishop Jonathan was speaking at the meeting of Diocesan Synod, the decision-making body of our diocese, on Saturday – the day after President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.

He also told synod leaders he believes that the UK government’s decision to cut international aid to fund increases in defence spending is wrong.

He was speaking before the start of Lent, traditionally a time of personal sacrifice and spiritual discipline for Christians, which began on Ash Wednesday this week.

“We pray for the government every day, but we must also be those who critique the government of whatever persuasion or background,” he said. “This government has set itself to cut international aid to rebuild defence. Political decisions are difficult decisions, almost by their very nature, but instinctively for a Christian, this feels like a wrong move.

“We may well need as a nation to build up our defence, but taking away from those who are poor and marginalised is something that would leave the saints weeping. We need to speak up for the poor in the name of Christ, who came for those who the world sees as nobodies.

“We also need wisdom to know how to respond correctly to the meeting between President Zelensky and President Trump and Vice-President JD Vance. It’s hard not to be emotional about what we were witnessing. It should call us to redouble prayer for those who are in power – that they might hear each other long enough in order to receive wisdom.

“I’m not a politician. I pray for politicians and I stand for politicians, but this was not an exercise in wisdom-seeking, but an example of complete disrespect for the other.

“Jesus says: ‘Those who would follow me should take up their Cross, deny themselves and follow me; those who would be great should be the servant of all; those who want to go first must learn to be last’. This is a lifetime of learning, not just for the President and Vice-President, but for us.

“We know we also need to learn to create enough space for each other, in our differences and in our brokenness, to hear what the risen Christ may be saying through the person standing right in front of us.”