Winchester Cathedral interior / Adobe Stock
Media in the UK cover the Catholic Church more than any other Christian denomination, with the Church being referenced in nearly one in four stories about Christianity, a study released July 2 discovered.
According to the Christianity in the News Media 2025 Report, commissioned by English communications agency Jersey Road, the Catholic Church is mentioned in 24% of all stories on Christianity published by the UK’s most frequented online news sources. The report stated that the Catholic Church is the second-largest Christian denomination in the UK, following only the Anglican Church.
OSV News reported earlier this year that Catholics make up about 10% of the UK’s population. The number of Catholics is steadily rising in the UK, as CatholicVote previously reported, leading some to say that if the trend continues, Catholicism could become more prevalent than the Anglican Church for the first time since King Henry VIII established it in the 16th century.
According to the July report’s summary, the analysis was conducted over 12 months, during which time popular news sources featured more than 5,000 stories about Christianity. More than 1,200 of the articles mentioned the Catholic Church.
While Jersey Road CEO Gareth Russell expressed concern that other denominations and Christian issues, like persecution of Christians around the world, are not as widely covered as the Catholic Church, he also celebrated the fact that Christianity makes appearances in the news.
“The UK media and public love human interest stories, and the number one theme in Christian coverage is personal stories of faith and the positive impact it’s had on their lives,” he stated in the report summary.
Of the more than 5,000 Christian stories that the report analyzed, personal faith was the most widely covered topic, with 1,635 stories. The Catholic Church came in second place, at 1,247 stories. Coverage of the Anglican Church came in third, with 846 stories.
According to the report, the media mainly take a neutral approach to their coverage of Christianity (44%), with 33% portraying Christianity negatively and 23% providing positive coverage.
