hello and welcome to bbc news. it is good to have your company here. we begin with international news. pope francis has addressed worshippers in the vatican this morning. his address follows the death of his predecessor, benedict xvi. the former pope will be lying in state in st peter s basilica from monday to allow mourners to pay their respects until his funeral on thursday. pope francis celebrated mass for the solemnity of mary in the vatican, and afterwards he paid tribute to his predessecor in st peter s square. translation: the beginning . of the new year is for mary most holy, who we celebrate today as mother of god. at this time, let s invoke her intercession, especially for pope benedict xvi, who left this world yesterday morning. let us alljoin together with one heart and one soul in thanking god for the gift of this faithful servant of the gospel and of the church. we saw recently, on the television, his images and all of the activities and life of pope benedict. o
and croatia begins the new year with a new currency, switching from the kuna to the euro. if you have just joined if you havejustjoined us, welcome to bbc news. pope francis has addressed the thousands of people who gathered at st peter s square in the vatican, a day after the death of benedict xvi. the pope described his predecessor as a faithful servant of the gospel and the church. our religion editor aleem maqbool is at the vatican. we heard from pope francis a couple of times today, first at a mass for peace that was held in st peter s basilica behind me. he talked about entrusting our beloved pope emeritus benedict xvi to the holy mother, to accompany him from this world to god. and then later, pope francis appeared at a balcony here at the vatican for what is his regular sunday lunchtime homily, where he started this week by asking people to join together, as you rightly say, to pray for the man he called a faithful servant to the gospel and to the church. extraordinar
but his opponent liz truss says the solution lies in lowering taxes which he brought in as chancellor. also on the programme. urgent polio boosters for children under nine in london, after the virus was detected in sewage. a four day amber extreme heat warning for parts of england and wales is due to come into force at midnight. # we re walking in the air. and the storyteller who enchanted us all, author and illustrator raymond briggs has died at the age of 88. and coming up on the bbc news channel. golf s big battle reaches court again with three liv golfers told by a judge they cannot overturn their ban to compete in the pga tour s lucrative end of tour play offs. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. with fresh warnings about soaring energy bills over the next few months, and with borisjohnson due to step down next month, the chancellor nadhim zahawi has said the treasury is preparing options for the next prime minister. but there are concerns that households
been injured in a series of incidents involving a firearm on the isle of skye and the kyle of lochalsh, in scotland. all children in london aged between one and nine will be offered a polio booster vaccine after more traces of the virus are found in the capital s waste water. four days of extreme weather is forecast in england and wales. # we re walking in the air. the author and illustrator raymond briggs, best known for the 1978 classic, the snowman, has died, aged 88. hello, good evening. with fresh warnings about soaring energy bills over the next few months, the chancellor nadhim zahawi says the treasury is preparing options for the next prime minister. but there are concerns that households could fall further behind in paying for their gas and electricity. at the moment, annual energy bills for an average household are £1,971. but those bills are predicted to soar to around over £3,500 in october. and forecasters say they could rise to more than £4,200 injanuary wh