November 2012
The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Justin Welby, is announced as Dr Rowan Williams’s nominated successor. Bishop Welby’s initial response to a call from the Prime Minister’s appointments secretary had been “Oh no!”
February 2013
The office of Archbishop of Canterbury is conferred on him, during a Confirmation of Election ceremony under the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. He takes the Oath of Allegiance to the Queen, and makes a proper written Declaration of Assent to his election as Archbishop of Canterbury.
March 2013
The Most Revd Justin Welby is enthroned in Canterbury Cathedral, after which his public ministry begins. “There might be no final justice, or security, or love, or hope in our society if it will not be finally based on rootedness in Christ,” he says within the sermon.
July 2013
The Archbishop makes his first significant intervention in public life when he vows to force Wonga, the payday lender, out of business, by utilizing the Church of England’s resources to bolster the country’s credit-union movement. The campaign is soon damaged when it’s discovered that the Church Commissioners have invested in Accel Partners, a non-public equity group that helped to launch Wonga. The Commissioners sell their shares in Wonga a 12 months later.
February 2014
Archbishop Welby takes part within the burial of victims of a church massacre in Bor, during a visit to South Sudan, two months after an outbreak of savage violence between political and ethnic factions. He describes what he saw as “truly devastating”.
July 2014
The General Synod gives final approval to enabling women to change into bishops within the Church of England, lower than two years since a draft Measure had been lost by a narrow majority within the House of Laity.
December 2014
The Archbishop speaks openly about trials that he has endured as a son and a father on in an interview for Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. The death in 1983 of his daughter, Johanna, aged seven months, in a automotive crash, is a “constant reminder of the uncertainty of life”, he says. Asked about his experience because the son of an alcoholic father, he describes one Christmas that he spent alone, while his father stayed in bed all day.
February 2015
The House of Bishops’ call for politicians to supply a disillusioned electorate an even bigger vision of society within the run-up to May’s General Election gets an offended response from Conservative MPs.
September 2015
The Community of St Anselm, which seeks to encourage Christians aged 20-35 to experience a “radical Jesus-centred community” of prayer and repair, is launched at Lambeth Palace.
January 2016
A high-stakes Primates’ Meeting takes place in Canterbury: the primary for five years. An “overwhelming majority” support “consequences” for the US Episcopal Church for introducing same-sex marriage.
April 2016
Archbishop Welby declares that a DNA test has revealed that he’s the son not of Gavin Welby, but of the late Sir Anthony Montague Browne, Sir Winston Churchill’s last private secretary. “I do know that I find who I’m in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes,” he says.
June 2016
The Archbishop calls for people to “accept the result” of the Brexit referendum without using it as an “excuse for prejudice and hate-filled acts”. During the campaign, he has argued publicly for the UK to stay within the European Union.
July 2016:
A family of Syrian refugees moves right into a cottage within the grounds of Lambeth Palace, under the Home Office’s Full Community Sponsorship scheme. The Archbishop describes it as “an unlimited privilege” to deal with the family.
February 2017
Channel 4 News reports that John Smyth QC, a former chairman of the Iwerne Trust, beat boys and young men in his garden shed. Archbishop Welby, who was a dormitory officer at Iwerne holiday camp within the late Nineteen Seventies, when Mr Smyth was one among the leaders, says that he was “completely unaware of any abuse”.
September 2017
Archbishop Welby decclares that the British economic model is “broken” and in need of fundamental reform.
March 2018
In his book Reimagining Britain, the Archbishop warns that Brexit could act as “a catalyst of British introspection, xenophobia, and self-pity”.
May 2018
Archbishop Welby officiates at the marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle.
February 2019
The Archbishop apologises for the Church’s botched handling of an allegation of sexual abuse against Bishop George Bell, and welcomes plans for a statue of Bell in Canterbury Cathedral.
April 2019
The Archbishop suspends the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Revd Christopher Lowson, over a safeguarding issue. Bishop Lowson says that he’s “bewildered”.
July 2019
Archbishop Welby appears as a witness on the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in relation to the Anglican Church. He tells the Inquiry that he’s “emphatically ashamed” of the Church’s safeguarding record.
February 2020
During a debate on the General Synod on the Empire Windrush legacy, the Archbishop describes the C of E as “deeply institutionally racist”.
March 2020
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York tell clergy to not enter their very own churches, after the Prime Minister names places of worship as among the many buildings that must close, and ban all weddings and baptisms, other than emergency baptisms in hospitals, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
November 2020
Archbishop Welby describes as “shameful and improper” the choice by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to chop overseas-aid spending.
January 2021
A 3rd lockdown is imposed, in response to rapidly rising Covid-19 infection rates, but public worship in England is exempt. Archbishop Welby encourages use of the Covid vaccine globally.
March 2021
Archbishop Welby condemns the “unacceptable” language utilized by the Primate of Nigeria, the Most Revd Henry Ndukuba, to explain gay people. Archbishop Ndukuba has spoken of a “deadly ‘virus’ of homosexuality”.
November 2021
The Archbishop retracts his 2017 statement that there remained a “significant cloud” over the name of George Bell.
July 2022
Bishops and spouses gather in Canterbury for the Lambeth Conference. While the mainstream media concentrate on disagreements about sexuality, most discussions relate to matters resembling evangelism, gender justice, Christian unity, and the environment.
September 2022
Queen Elizabeth II dies peacefully at Balmoral, aged 96. Preaching at her state funeral in Westminster Abbey, Archbishop Welby says: “We will all face the merciful judgement of God; we will all share the Queen’s hope which in life and death inspired her servant leadership.”
February 2023
The General Synod agrees to welcome the Bishops’ proposals to offer prayers to bless same-sex unions in church — but with a last-minute clarification that their use is not going to contradict the Church’s current teaching on marriage. Archbishop Welby says that he is not going to use the prayers, in order to be a spotlight of unity within the Anglican Communion.
May 2023
Archbishop Welby crowns the brand new King and Queen in Westminster Abbey. His sermon speaks of the burden of a task that’s “only bearable by the Spirit of God, who gives us the strength to provide our lives to others”.
October 2023
The Archbishop visits Jerusalem, two weeks after the 7 October Hamas massacres and the launch of Israel’s military response. His intention is to point out solidarity with Anglicans within the region.
February 2024
The Archbishop pays a five-day pastoral visit to Ukraine. At the top, he says: “We must long for peace — but not peace that increases the likelihood of more war.”
October 2024
The Archbishop gives “a private view” to a podcast that each one sexual intercourse needs to be “inside a committed relationship” — whether marriage or a civil partnership.
November 2024
The long-awaited Makin review of John Smyth’s abuse is published, and lists Archbishop Welby as amongst those that did not act. After twice resisting calls to resign, on 12 November, the Archbishop declares his resignation.
