Reverend Philip North named new Bishop of Burnley

Reverend Philip North will be consecrated at York Minster on 2 February

Philip North has been appointed the new Bishop of Burnley.

The new Right Reverend North, currently team rector of four inner-city churches in north London, will replace the Right Rev John Goddard, who retired in July.

Bishop-elect North said his new role was "a great pleasure and a daunting privilege", adding it was a "tremendous relief" to now be able to talk about his appointment.

He will be consecrated at York Minster on 2 February.

He said he is anxious to continue the multi-faith work across the county that his predecessor had started.

"This kind of inter-faith work is something I am very familiar with where I am currently based in London," he said.

"I am a governor of a church school with a 68% Muslim population and I have sought to encourage close links between people all faiths to strengthen the already vibrant local community."

The bishop-elect was born in north London and after leaving school studied history at the University of York.

In 2002 he moved to Norfolk where he spent six years overseeing the regeneration of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, an Anglican and Catholic shrine to the Virgin Mary.