We never thought we would ask ourselves these questions, but they have not left our minds for the last decade

When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? Have India, Hungary and Israel already slipped into the latter category? Is it possible that Brazil and the United States will also cross the line?

We never thought we would ask ourselves these questions, but they have not left our minds for the last decade – until we were able to address them more directly in the form of a film, Apocalypse in the Tropics , which looks specifically into the relationship of the far right and Christian fundamentalism in Brazil.

Petra Costa and Alessandra Orofino are the director and producer of Apocalypse in the Tropics

Jerald Walker grew up believing the world would end in 1972, when he was eight. But when fire and brimstone failed to rain from the skies, he and his family had to start again

When Jerald Walker was a boy, his school principal called him into his office and asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. “My answer was: ‘A god,’” Walker recalls, laughing. “He thought I was kidding but I was serious. When he asked again I said: ‘Captain Marvel.’ Because I thought about comic book heroes. I couldn’t think ‘doctor’ or ‘writer’ or any of those things. I had never once given any thought to what my adulthood would be.”

Walker wasn’t even sure he’d have an adulthood. He grew up convinced that the world would end in 1972, when he would be eight years old. According to the prophecy, fire and brimstone would rain from the skies, people would be running in the streets in panic, covered in boils, their faces melting. But as members of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), Walker and his family would be saved – and magically transported to a place of sanctuary, probably Petra, in Jordan. “The bad news was that there wouldn’t be a future, but the good news was: ‘You don’t have to worry about it. Everything is laid out for you.’”

Apollo Quiboloy, who is wanted by the FBI on charges of child sexual abuse trafficking, surrendered after a police ultimatum, officials say

A pastor wanted in the US for the alleged sex trafficking of children has been arrested two weeks into a huge police manhunt for the self-proclaimed “appointed son of God”, officials in the Philippines have said.

Apollo Quiboloy is the founder of the Philippines-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) church, which claims millions of members.

The award-winning author, ecclesiastical historian and church-goer on his incendiary new book about sex and the church, challenging centuries of self-serving homophobia, fakery and abuse. He is primed for the backlash…

Sitting in the sun in the back garden of his modern terraced house, Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch is explaining to me, with half a smile, his imminent plans to shake the foundations of the Church of England. Appropriately enough, we are in Jericho, just outside the centre of Oxford. MacCulloch, emeritus professor of the history of the church at Oxford, has written a near-700-page book about Christianity and sex , which he intends to be a “well-placed hand grenade” directed at those never-ending “debates” within the church over who God permits to share a bed with whom. MacCulloch is on the side of the angels (who, he points out, are the original gender fluid beings; pronouns uncertain).

MacCulloch is the best kind of scholar: one with a keen sense of mischief. He was among the few people his late, great friend Hilary Mantel might have deferred to in knowledge of Thomas Cromwell and Reformation politics. For the past four years, since his retirement from university teaching, he has applied that lifelong erudition to a comprehensive and richly entertaining history of the ways in which, for 3,000 years, the church has tied itself in knots over sex (and love and marriage).

The pontiff visited the small town of Vanimo after delivering mass to an estimated 35,000 people in the capital of Port Moresby

Pope Francis travelled to Vanimo, on Papua New Guinea’s remote north-west coast, after celebrating a mass in the capital of Port Moresby in front of an estimated audience of 35,000 people.

The pope received an enthusiastic welcome in the town located on a peninsula close to the border with Indonesia. He was greeted by members of the small Catholic community who are served by missionaries from his native Argentina.

Funds will help communities living on the Codrington Estate, which was home to two sugar plantations

An Anglican church group is to launch a £7m reconciliation project in Barbados to atone for the atrocities of transatlantic slavery and compensate descendants of enslaved people.

United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG), a UK-based missionary organisation created in 1701 to convert people in the colonies to Christianity, will work with local and regional partners in the Caribbean to allocate money to education and entrepreneurial grants and historical research. It will also support land ownership among descendants of enslaved people.

Pope met the grand imam and representatives from Indonesia’s six officially recognised religions at Jakarta’s Istiqlal mosque

When Pope Francis stepped on to the hallowed grounds of the Istiqlal mosque in the Indonesian capital on Thursday, he marked a historic moment in his quest to bridge the divides between the world’s major religions.

Dressed in a simple white cassock, he was greeted by Istiqlal’s grand imam, Nasaruddin Umar, and representatives from Indonesia’s six officially recognised religions – Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism.

Lion of Judah enrolls poll workers in Trump-aligned swing state tour, which experts say could be ‘hazard to democracy’

A Christian political operative has teamed up with charismatic preachers to enroll election skeptics as poll workers across the country, using a Donald Trump -aligned swing state tour to enlist support in the effort.

Joshua Standifer, who leads the group called Lion of Judah, describes the effort as a “Trojan horse” strategy to get Christians in “key positions of influence in government like Election Workers”, which will help them identify alleged voter fraud and serve as “the first step on the path to victory this Fall”, according to his website.

Pontiff’s itinerary including visits to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea reflects importance of Asia to Catholic church

Pope Francis is to embark on the longest, farthest and perhaps most challenging trip of his pontificate as he begins a 12-day Asia-Pacific tour that is expected to highlight environmental threats, emphasise interfaith dialogue and reinforce the importance of Asia for the Catholic church.

The 87-year-old will set off on Monday on a tour taking in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, a trip that will clock up more than 20,000 miles by air.