The new Bishop of Durham was installed at Durham Cathedral over the weekend.

Bishop Justin Welby gave the traditional three knocks on the door to gain admittance on Saturday morning, before being formally installed.

In his first sermon as bishop, he said that Christians had a role to play in a time of economic hardship blighting the north-east of England.

“This is a time of opportunity,” he said.

“The idols of our age have fallen, toppled in successive economic and political tempests. All the great institutions, including our own, in which we have trusted, seem flat-footed faced with changes in mood and temper so rapid that leaders are constantly running to catch up.”

He continued: “The storm has broken upon the very basis on which government has been working for so many years, the undertaking and understanding that the most fundamental task of government was to make us richer and more and more untouched by the vagaries of life, from illness to economic downturn … and it failed.

“The idols have been toppled and offer no salvation, not even faint and illusory hope.”

Bishop Welby’s installation capped a week of touring around the diocese for a series of prayer meetings at churches.

The prayer meetings were part of his new campaign inviting locals to suggest prayers via Facebook and Twitter.

He kicked off the week of prayer with a prayer session at the Angel of the North joined by Gateshead Mayor Joe Mitchison and Chief Executive of Gateshead Council, Roger Kelly.

Prayers were said for youth workers, the unemployed and those affected by economic hardship.