The Archbishop of Canterbury has paid tribute to the veteran journalist and broadcaster Edward Stourton who’s died at the age of 68.
Writing on social media site X, Most Rev Sarah Mullally described him as a “curious, compassionate and fiercely intelligent journalist. He brought such wisdom to his work, and I am particularly grateful for his contribution to religious broadcasting, driven by his strong Catholic faith.”
Stourton was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014 and had recently been told it had spread. The BBC said he died surrounded by his family.
In a career spanning more than 40 years, Stourton worked at ITN, Channel Four and the BBC where he presented Today for more than a decade. He also presented BBC Radio 4’s Sunday religious affairs programme as well as The World At One and The World This Weekend. Among his documentaries was “Absolute Truth” a BBC Two series about the Catholic Church.
He was also the author of several books including a biography of the late Pope John Paul II.
Educated at the Catholic boarding school Ampleforth, Stourton's faith was integral to his life. However, after divorcing his first wife and later remarrying he was no longer allowed to receive communion and continued as a non-practising Catholic. In 2023, he wrote in a memoir that he "cannot quite shake off the idea that life is a journey with a moral destination … My attachment to Catholicism owes much more to a sense that it is a good guide to this life than to any conviction that it is a passport to the next”.
Chine McDonald, director of Christian think thank Theos, paid tribute saying: “When religion can so often be treated as either irrelevant or a culture-war battleground, he approached faith with the seriousness it deserved. He neither sensationalised nor trivialised it; he simply believed it was important enough to understand well.”
Archbishop Sarah added: “I - and no doubt millions of other listeners - will miss his thoughtful and insightful reporting. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues at this difficult time. May Edward rest in peace and rise in glory”.