Product Code Database
Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is an Anglican bishop who served as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 2013 to 2025.
After an 11-year career in the oil industry, Welby trained for ordination at St John's College, Durham. He served in a number of parish churches before becoming dean of Liverpool in 2007 and bishop of Durham in 2011, serving in the latter role for just over a year before succeeding Rowan Williams as archbishop of Canterbury in February 2013.
As archbishop, Welby officiated at a number of notable events, including the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the state funeral of Elizabeth II, and the coronation of Charles III and Camilla. His tenure coincided with the ordination of the Church of England's first female bishop and the blessings for same-sex unions. Welby's theology is seen as representing the "open evangelical" tradition within Anglicanism.
Welby resigned as archbishop in January 2025, following the publication of a report into the Church of England's handling of allegations of abuse committed by the barrister John Smyth that criticised Welby's failure to investigate the allegations.
Gavin Welby (born Bernard Gavin Weiler in Ruislip, Middlesex) was the son of Bernard Weiler, a German-Jewish immigrant and importer of luxury items who changed the family name to Welby during the First World War.
He stood for Parliament as a Conservative candidate in the 1951 and 1955 general elections.Welby has described his early childhood as "messy". Gavin and Jane Welby, who were both alcoholism, divorced in 1959 when he was 3 years old, and he was placed in Gavin's custody. In 1960 Gavin was engaged to the actress Vanessa Redgrave, who called the engagement off after her mother, Rachel Kempson, wrote to Vanessa's father, Sir Michael Redgrave, describing Gavin as "a real horror ... a pretty rotten piece of work".
Gavin died in 1977 of alcohol-related causes.Jane stopped drinking in 1968, and in 1975 married Charles Williams, a business executive and first-class cricket player who was made a life peer in 1985. Williams was the nephew of Elizabeth Laura Gurney, a member of the Gurney family of Norwich who were prominent Quakers and social reformers, and was remembered by Welby as being a supportive step-father. Commenting on his mother's death in 2023, Welby said that it had been "a privilege to be her son". The Guardian, "Justin Welby says it was 'a privilege to be her son', after mother dies at 93", 15 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
Welby's maternal grandmother was the journalist and historian Iris Butler (1905–2002), whose brother (Welby's great-uncle) Rab Butler was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, where Welby later studied. Iris and Rab's father (Welby's maternal great-grandfather) was Sir Montagu Butler, Governor of the Central Provinces of British India and Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Sir Montagu was the grandson of George Butler, headmaster of Harrow School and Dean of Peterborough, and the nephew of the educator George Butler (husband of the social reformer Josephine Butler) and of Henry Montagu Butler, headmaster of Harrow School, Dean of Gloucester and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Sir Montagu was also the grand-nephew of John Colenso, the first Bishop of Natal.
Welby's maternal grandfather was Gervas Portal, a half-brother of Charles Portal, who served as Chief of the Air Staff during the Second World War . Gervas Portal's mother, Rose Leslie Portal ( née Napier), was the granddaughter of General Sir William Napier and Caroline Amelia Fox. General Napier and his brothers Charles and George were the sons of Sir George Napier and Lady Sarah Lennox. Caroline Amelia Fox was the daughter of General Henry Edward Fox, younger brother of prominent Whig politician Charles James Fox, sons of the politician Henry Fox and Caroline Lennox. Caroline and Sarah Lennox were two of the five Lennox sisters, who were daughters of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and granddaughters of Charles II and his mistress Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth.
In a 2013 interview with The Daily Telegraph, Welby related his conversion experience when he was a student at Trinity College, Cambridge. He said that, while he was at Eton, he had "vaguely assumed there was a God. But I didn't believe. I wasn't interested at all." However, during the evening of 12 October 1975 in Cambridge, praying with a Christian friend, Welby said that he suddenly felt "a clear sense of something changing, the presence of something that had not been there before in my life". He said to his friend, "Please don't tell anyone about this." Welby said that he was desperately embarrassed that this had happened to him. In a 2014 interview, Welby said that his conversion had come when his friend had taken him to an "evangelistic address" which he found to be poor. After this, his friend "simply explained the Gospels" to him. Welby said that from that point onwards he "knew the presence of God". He has since said that his time at Cambridge was a major moment of self-realisation in his life.
He has said that at the age of 19, he began glossolalia.
In July 2013, following the report of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, Welby explained that senior bank executives avoided being given information about difficult issues to allow them to "plead ignorance". He also said he would possibly have behaved in the same way, and warned against punishing by naming and shaming individual bankers which he compared to the behaviour of a Lynching.
He was subsequently accepted for ordination, with the support of the Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, Sandy Millar. Throughout his ministry Welby has been linked to the charismatic evangelical wing of the Church of England associated with Holy Trinity Brompton, and in a 2019 interview said "In my own prayer life, and as part of my daily discipline, I pray in tongues every day."
From 1989 to 1992, Welby studied theology and trained for the priesthood at Cranmer Hall and St John's College, Durham, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and a Diploma in Ministry (DipMin) in 1992. "About Justin Welby" Accessed 3 May 2016. He was ordained a deacon at Petertide (on 28 June) 1992 and a priest the next Petertide (27 June 1993), both times by Simon Barrington-Ward, Bishop of Coventry, at Coventry Cathedral. He then became a curate at Chilvers Coton and St Mary the Virgin, Astley (Nuneaton) from 1992 to 1995. He then became rector of St James' Church, Southam, and later vicar of St Michael and All Angels, Ufton, Diocese of Coventry, from 1995 to 2002.
In 2002, Welby was appointed a canon residentiary of Coventry Cathedral and the co-director for international ministry at the International Centre for Reconciliation. In 2005, he was appointed sub-dean and Canon for Reconciliation Ministry.
Welby was appointed Dean of Liverpool in December 2007 and was installed at Liverpool Cathedral on 8 December 2007.
Welby has written widely on ethics and on finance, featuring in books such as Managing the Church?: Order and Organisation in a Secular Age and Explorations in Financial Ethics. Welby's dissertation, an exploration into whether companies can sin, marks his point that the structure of a system can "make it easier to make the right choice or the wrong choice." His dissertation led to the publication of a booklet entitled Can Companies Sin?: "Whether", "How" and "Who" in Company Accountability, which was published by Grove Books in 1992. He has said that the Benedictine and Franciscan orders in the Anglican churches, along with Catholic social teaching, have influenced his spiritual formation.
Interviewed by the BBC in 2011, Welby said that to be appointed Bishop of Durham was both challenging and a huge privilege:
"I was astonished to be offered the role. It is a passionate desire to see a church that is vigorously full of spiritual life, serving Jesus and serving those around it."
Welby's election was confirmed at York Minster on 29 September 2011, and he left Liverpool Cathedral on 2 October. He was consecrated as a bishop at York Minster on 28 October 2011 by John Sentamu, Archbishop of York; and was enthroned in Durham Cathedral on 26 November 2011. He was introduced to the House of Lords on 12 January 2012, where he sat on the Lords Spiritual bench. He gave his maiden speech on 16 May 2012.
Welby was asked to join the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in 2012.
Welby was President of the National Churches Trust.
Welby was Enthronement as archbishop at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013, the date in the Anglican church calendar that commemorates the life of Thomas Cranmer.
Welby's schedule included an official visit to the Vatican on 14 June 2013, with visits to senior curial officials, including Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, an official audience with Pope Francis and prayer at the tombs of Saint Peter and Pope John Paul II.
In a 12 July 2013 interview with The Daily Telegraph, Welby addressed questions about his religion. His answers included the following:
Welby's tenure as archbishop coincided with the ordination of Libby Lane as the church's first female bishop in 2014 and its approval of blessings for same-sex couples in 2023. He officiated at a number of notable events, such as the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, the funeral of Elizabeth II in 2022 and the coronation of Charles III and Camilla in 2023.
Despite initially stating that he would not resign, on 12 November 2024, following mounting pressure from both victims and clerics, Welby announced that he had spoken to King Charles III, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and would resign. Stressing the importance of taking "personal and institutional responsibility" for the "long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses" committed by Smyth and the "long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church", he expressed hope that his resignation would make clear "how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church." On 20 November, Lambeth Palace announced that Welby would conclude his official duties by 6 January 2025, after which his official functions would be delegated to the Archbishop of York, and that the end date of his term as archbishop would be set in consultation with the Privy Council.
In a statement, the Church of England's second-most senior bishop, Stephen Cottrell (Archbishop of York), said that Welby's resignation was the "right and honourable thing to do." Echoing those remarks, other bishops thanked Welby for his "ministry, mission and leadership" while acknowledging the seriousness of the Church's safeguarding failings. Church Times, "'The right and honourable thing': bishops react to Archbishop of Canterbury's resignation", 12 November 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024. The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who had earlier publicly refused to support Welby, said that he "respects the decision".
Welby's resignation was followed by calls for other senior clergy involved in the Smyth cover-up to stand down. The Bishop of Birkenhead, Julie Conalty, reiterated that Welby had "done the right thing", but stressed that his resignation alone was "not going to solve the problem" of safeguarding failures in the Church.
The UK Minister for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, speaking "as an Anglican, not as a Government minister", agreed that Welby should resign but church leaders should not think "one head rolling solves the problem". Streeting added that there are "deep and fundamental issues of not just practice, but of culture on safeguarding, that need to be taken seriously".
Welby's final speech in the House of Lords on 5 December 2024 was criticised as he appeared to make light of the circumstances of his resignation. The Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, said his tone was "unwise to say the least". Welby apologised the next day, and later said that he was "profoundly ashamed" of the speech.
Welby completed official duties on 6 January 2025 (his 69th birthday). Until a successor is named, the functions of the archbishop have been delegated to Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York, to Sarah Mullally, bishop of London, and to Rose Hudson-Wilkin, bishop of Dover. Anglican Communion News Service, "Statement from Lambeth Palace about the Archbishop of Canterbury", 20 November 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024. Welby's resignation became official at midnight on 7 January 2025, as declared by the King-in-Council on 18 December.Orders in Council, 18 December 2024, page 42. [7]
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Archived, 22 December 2024
Welby's early grounding in Christian doctrine was rooted in the Iwerne camp network founded by Eric Nash.
Welby was a dormitory officer at the camps from around 1975 to 1978, a period that coincides with that of Smyth's child abuse at the same location. From 1978 to 1981, Smyth allegedly carried out a series of brutal beatings on boys and undergraduates, recorded in a report written by Iwerne officer Canon Mark Ruston in February 1982 but not passed on to the police until 2013.In 2017, Welby described Smyth as "charming" and "delightful". Welby "vaguely recalls" receiving a Christmas card from Smyth in the 1990s, but definitively recalls meeting Smyth in Paris in the 1990s. In 1978, Welby left the UK to work in Paris and Welby stated that "I had no contact with them the at all." It later materialised that Welby had spoken at the camp in this period and had continued to receive the camp newsletter. Andrew Atherstone, in the biography Risk-taker and Reconciler, describes Welby as having been "involved in the camps as an undergraduate ... businessman and theological college student in the 1980s and early 1990s."
In 2012, a victim of Smyth reported the abuse to the Church of England and Welby was informed in 2013. Welby maintained that this was the first he heard of Smyth's abuses. The New York Times on 14 October 2017 quoted a senior Church of England figure as saying that "all senior members of the trust, including officers like Archbishop Welby, had been made aware of the allegations against Mr Smyth, even those who had been abroad". Questions have remained among Smyth's victims as to when Welby first knew, and some have labelled him an "observer", a term denoting a person who knew about abuse but who did not report appropriately. Welby said that he was not part of the inner circle of Smyth's friends and that survivors must come first, not the church's own interests.
An Makin Review noted that Smyth's abuse was not merely physical and psychological, but sometimes sexual in nature, and concluded that the Church of England had covered up the allegations against Smyth for three decades. The report accused Welby of "minimisation" of Smyth's actions and found that he failed to inform church authorities in Cape Town of the risk of abuse. Specifically, the report found that Welby had been informed of Smyth's abuse in August 2013, six months after his elevation to Archbishop of Canterbury, but did not personally ensure that the reports were passed on to the police. Although Welby stated (and the report agreed) that his subordinates told him the authorities had been alerted, the report found that the Church failed to use full efforts to ensure that Smyth was investigated and prosecuted. The report found that the Church informally disclosed the matter to Cambridgeshire Police and the Metropolitan Police, but the former did not record the allegations as a crime and the latter passed the matter to Hampshire Police, which initially declined to pursue the matter until a Channel 4 news report. Despite Hampshire Police's belated investigation, Smyth was not prosecuted before his death in 2018.
Welby initially stated that he would not resign after the release of the report. In response, over 1,500 church members called on Welby to step down from his position, and on 12 November 2024 he announced his decision to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.
In March 2025, Welby announced that he had "forgiven" Smyth.
In the preface to his 2018 book, Reimagining Britain, published after 555 postmasters had launched legal action against the Post Office, Welby said she "shaped my thinking over the years". And in February 2019 she was appointed to the Church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group, after more than 900 sub-postmasters had been prosecuted because of faulty software. In 2024, Welby said "more questions should have been asked" after the Horizon scandal emerged, and "we will need to reflect on it".
In August 2019, Welby called for EU Remainers to "stop whingeing" and accept the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Welby also said he was concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom exacerbated existing inequalities. He spoke with bereaved families and added tributes to the National Covid Memorial Wall (representing those who died of COVID-19). In April 2021, Welby called for the start of a COVID-19 public inquiry.
Before Christmas 2013, Welby urged people to give 10% of what they spend at Christmas to food banks.
In December 2014, Welby expressed concern about the increasing need for food banks which he said would have been "unthinkable" a decade before. He called the plight of hungry poor people shocking because he did not expect that in the UK, saying that it was "a very sad fact that they're there, but also it's a great opportunity for the Church to demonstrate the love of Christ.".
Shortly after this well-publicised intervention in the public debate, it emerged that the Church of England's pension fund had invested money in Accel Partners, a venture capital firm that had invested in Wonga. This led to accusations of hypocrisy, and Welby said that the investment was "very embarrassing" for the church. Welby and the Church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group were unaware of their investment in Wonga.
Welby also said that the Ethical Investment Advisory Group ought to reconsider rules which allow investment in companies that make up to 25% of their income from gambling, alcohol or high-interest lending.
Welby's growing political influence led to him being named by the New Statesman as the UK's twenty-seventh most powerful left-wing figure, citing his campaigning for refugee rights, condemnation of austerity, and advocacy against the gig economy.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in November 2016, Welby stated that claiming that the actions of ISIS are "nothing to do with Islam" was damaging efforts to combat extremism. Welby stipulated that it was essential to understand the religious motivation behind extremism in order to understand it and, similarly, also criticised the argument that claims that "Anti-balaka are nothing to do with Christianity."
In a speech at Christmas 2013 Welby said, "Even in a recovering economy, Christians, the servants of a vulnerable and poor saviour, need to act to serve and love the poor; they need also to challenge the causes of poverty.".. In a speech at Easter 2013 Welby said, "In this country, even as the economy improves there is weeping in broken families, in people ashamed to seek help from food banks, or frightened by debt. Asylum seekers weep with loneliness and missing far away families.".
Referring to poverty in the UK and generally, in 2017 and again in 2021, Welby said that "we should all share concern for the poor and the marginalised, should work to build communities where people act responsibly towards one another, whether we are rich or poor we all have the same dignity. William Beveridge, R. H. Tawney and William Temple played a significant part in establishing the post-war welfare state in the United Kingdom and were committed Christians. We do not have the luxury of saying, 'Something must be done' without doing anything ourselves."
Welby has said that justice of the powerful is not justice at all and judges should decide issues based on truth and the common good rather than class and money.. Welby quoted Nelson Mandela that "dealing with poverty was a matter of justice rather than charity." Welby felt that speaking out about poverty, fuel bills, financial insecurity affecting families and is part of the Christian duty to love one's neighbour...
Welby has said that insecurity of income is also a problem for many people. He expressed concern that many people cannot save or plan for, for example a holiday because they do not know how much money will be coming in from week to week. In September 2018, Welby said:
Welby also said in 2018:
Welby does not unequivocally affirm the Church of England's historic opposition to same-sex marriage. At his first press conference he spoke out strongly against homophobia and stated that he is "always averse to the language of exclusion, when what we are called to is to love in the same way as Jesus Christ loves us." He also said "I know I need to listen very attentively to the LGBT communities, and examine my own thinking prayerfully and carefully." Before his enthronement, he stated that he did not have doubts about the church's policy in opposing same-sex marriages but remained "challenged as to how we respond to it". "You see gay relationships that are just stunning in the quality of the relationship", he said, adding that he had "particular friends where I recognise that and am deeply challenged by it".
Welby sees problems with special services of blessing for same-sex couples, saying in 2014: "There is great fear among some, here and round the world, that that will lead to the betrayal of our traditions, to the denial of the authority of scripture, to apostasy, not to use too strong a word and there is also a great fear that our decisions will lead us to the rejection of LGBT people, to irrelevance in a changing society, to behaviour that many see akin to racism. Both those fears are alive and well in this room today ''a. We have to find a way forward that is one of holiness and obedience to the call of God and enables us to fulfil our purposes. This cannot be done through fear. How we go forward matters deeply, as does where we arrive".. In 2016, Welby confirmed he had appointed a bishop, Nicholas Chamberlain, (the Bishop of Grantham) who is in a same-sex relationship, and that he supports clergy who are in celibate same-sex relationships in line with the church's policy.
Welby has since said that he has become "much less certain" about his stance on human sexuality. In an interview with Alastair Campbell in October 2017, he was asked if same-sex activity was sinful and declined to give a clear answer, saying: "I don't do blanket condemnation of people." When asked if a stable relationship could be between two people of the same sex, Welby said "I know it could be", and accepted that faithfulness and love were the "absolutely central" aspects of relationships, but added:
He also stated that while homophobia was a sin, he did not consider it homophobic to oppose gay sex. In 2023, Welby announced that he supports a proposal by the House of Bishops that maintains that marriage is between one man and a woman but which would also authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples". Speaking of his support for the proposal, Welby said he was "extremely, joyfully celebratory of these new resources" while he also clarified that he will not perform the blessings because of his role as an "instrument of unity" for the Anglican Communion. In November 2023, Welby endorsed an additional proposal to authorise "standalone" blessings for same-sex couples on a trial basis. He is the first sitting Archbishop of Canterbury to support a proposal to allow blessings for same-sex unions in the Church of England. On 15 November 2023, Welby abstained in the General Synod vote to introduce "standalone services for same-sex couples" on a trial basis saying that his abstention was due to his role as a symbol of unity in the whole Anglican Communion; the motion passed. In October 2024, Welby announced that his views on sex had evolved, sharing that his personal view is that sexual intimacy, whether for opposite-sex or same-sex couples, should take place "within a committed relationship", including marriage and civil partnership. Lambeth Palace reiterated that Welby was expressing his personal view, not necessarily the doctrine of the Church of England.
In September 2018, Welby said:
Welby also said in 2018:
In October 2022, Welby criticised the UK government for introducing tax cuts for the wealthy and for pursuing policies that disproportiontely affected the poor.
Welby would like discipline applied over appointments to prevent opponents of women as bishops feeling alienated. Welby says he hopes to avoid a zero-sum game where people feel gain for one side inevitably means loss for the other, he sees need for caution, co-operation and unity.. Slightly revised legislation to allow women to be ordained bishops in the Church of England was agreed in July 2014 and became law in November 2014.
His daughter Katharine has written of her experience of poor mental health. Another daughter, Ellie, has learning disabilities.
Welby acknowledges his privileged education and upbringing, and has been praised for sending his own children to local state schools.
Welby speaks French and is an avid Francophile, having lived and worked in France. An announcement about his appointment as Bishop of Durham listed his hobbies as "most things French and sailing".
|
|
