83 Facts About Justin Welby

1.

Justin Portal Welby was born on 6 January 1956 and is a British bishop who has served as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury since 2013.

2.

Justin Welby was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge where he read history and law.

3.

Justin Welby's theology is reported as representing the "open evangelical" tradition within Anglicanism.

4.

Justin Welby believed that Gavin Justin Welby was his biological father until paternity testing in 2016 showed that he was Browne's son.

5.

Gavin Justin 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 Justin Welby shortly after the First World War broke out.

6.

Gavin Justin Welby stood for Parliament in the 1951 and 1955 general elections as a Conservative candidate.

7.

Justin Welby describes his early childhood as "messy": Gavin and Jane Justin Welby were both alcoholics.

8.

Justin Welby's mother stopped drinking in 1968, and in 1975 married Charles Williams, a business executive and first-class cricketer who was made a life peer in 1985.

9.

Justin Welby's mother, Jane Portal, was the daughter of Iris Butler, a journalist and historian whose brother, Rab Butler, was a Conservative politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

10.

Justin Welby was educated at St Peter's School, Seaford between 1964 and 1968; Eton College; and Trinity College, Cambridge, where his great-uncle, Lord Butler of Saffron Walden, was then master.

11.

Justin Welby graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and law; according to custom, he was later promoted to Master of Arts by seniority.

12.

Justin Welby said that from that point onwards he "knew the presence of God".

13.

Justin Welby has since said that his time at Cambridge was a major moment of self-realisation in his life.

14.

Justin Welby has said that the age of 19, he began speaking in tongues.

15.

Justin Welby worked for eleven years in the oil industry, five of them for the French oil company Elf Aquitaine based in Paris.

16.

Justin Welby retired from his executive position in 1989 and said that he sensed a calling from God to be ordained.

17.

In July 2013, following the report of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, Justin Welby explained that senior bank executives avoided being given information about difficult issues to allow them to "plead ignorance".

18.

Justin Welby 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 lynch mob.

19.

Justin Welby was at first rejected for ordination by John Hughes, the Bishop of Kensington, who told him:.

20.

Justin Welby was accepted for ordination, with the support of the Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, Sandy Millar.

21.

From 1989 to 1992, Justin 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 degree and a Diploma in Ministry in 1992.

22.

Justin Welby was ordained a deacon at Petertide 1992 and a priest the next Petertide, both times by Simon Barrington-Ward, Bishop of Coventry, at Coventry Cathedral.

23.

Justin Welby then became a curate at Chilvers Coton and St Mary the Virgin, Astley from 1992 to 1995.

24.

Justin Welby 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.

25.

In 2002, Justin Welby was appointed a canon residentiary of Coventry Cathedral and the co-director for international ministry at the International Centre for Reconciliation.

26.

Justin Welby was appointed Dean of Liverpool in December 2007 and was installed at Liverpool Cathedral on 8 December 2007.

27.

Justin Welby has said that the Benedictine and Franciscan orders in the Anglican churches, along with Catholic social teaching, have influenced his spiritual formation.

28.

Justin Welby's election was confirmed at York Minster on 29 September 2011, and he left Liverpool Cathedral on 2 October.

29.

Justin Welby 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.

30.

Justin Welby was introduced to the House of Lords on 12 January 2012, where he sits on the Lords Spiritual bench.

31.

Justin Welby gave his maiden speech on 16 May 2012.

32.

Justin Welby was asked to join the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in 2012.

33.

Justin Welby emerged as a candidate to be the next archbishop of Canterbury; his appointment to the position was announced on 9 November 2012.

34.

In January 2013, Justin Welby said that he initially thought it was "a joke" and "perfectly absurd" for him to be appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, because he had only been a bishop for a short time.

35.

Justin Welby was enthroned as archbishop at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013, which in the calendar of the Anglican churches is an observance of Thomas Cranmer.

36.

Justin 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.

37.

Justin Welby presided over the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May 2023.

38.

Justin Welby was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to preside over a coronation service in around seventy years.

39.

In February 2018, Justin Welby expressed fears that Brexit was dividing UK society and the United Kingdom government austerity programme was harming vulnerable people.

40.

Justin Welby has spoken out against "malicious rumour-mongering" relating to the pandemic.

41.

Justin Welby said he was concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom exacerbated existing inequalities.

42.

Justin Welby spoke with bereaved families and added tributes to the National Covid Memorial Wall.

43.

In 2013, Justin Welby disagreed strongly with Lord David Freud, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Welfare Reform at the time, because Justin Welby believes the UK government cuts to benefits have caused or contributed to the surge in food banks.

44.

In December 2014, Justin Welby expressed concern about the increasing need for food banks which he said would have been "unthinkable" a decade ago.

45.

Justin Welby is concerned about rises in energy prices in the UK.

46.

Justin Welby feels that energy companies have a responsibility towards customers and should take account of this rather than only maximising their own opportunities.

47.

In July 2013, Justin Welby spoke out against the payday lending sites and met with Errol Damelin, chief executive of Wonga.

48.

Justin Welby pledged that the Church of England would support credit unions as society needs to "provide an alternative" to the "very, very costly forms of finance" that payday lending services represent.

49.

Justin Welby noted that he did not want to make legal payday lending illegal as this would leave people with no alternative to using criminal loan sharks.

50.

Justin Welby said in 2021 that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom had exacerbated existing inequalities, and called for the building of "a new Beveridge".

51.

Justin Welby joined with Pope Francis and leaders of other faiths, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim, in a joint declaration they would work together aiming to end modern slavery by 2020.

52.

Justin Welby is concerned that Christians are persecuted in some parts of the world, notably in the Middle East, and fears that some risk their lives going to church.

53.

Justin Welby said that Christians and other religious minorities were made to suffer terribly and were killed in Iraq, which violates article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

54.

Justin Welby noted that Christians and other minorities face persecution for their faith in many areas worldwide; he cited Syria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic among others.

55.

Justin Welby urged the United Kingdom to open doors to refugees.

56.

Justin 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.

57.

Justin Welby has said that insecurity of income is a problem for many people.

58.

Justin Welby 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.

59.

Justin Welby disagrees with restrictions on child refugees being admitted to the UK.

60.

In 2017, Justin Welby expressed fears that children were vulnerable to exploitation and even death.

61.

In 2016, Justin Welby confirmed he appointed a bishop, Nicholas Chamberlain, 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.

62.

Justin Welby is the first sitting Archbishop of Canterbury to support a proposal to allow blessings for same-sex unions in the Church of England.

63.

Justin Welby said in 2018 that social injustice was widespread and entrenched in British society.

64.

Justin Welby said the gig economy was one of many injustices.

65.

Justin Welby said in September 2018 that the weakest people got the least secure pensions and the strongest got the most secure pensions, stating:.

66.

Justin Welby said in December 2017 that tax avoidance was wrong and that many wealthy companies did not pay as much tax as they should.

67.

In October 2022, Justin Welby criticised the UK government for introducing tax cuts for the wealthy and for pursuing policies that disproportiontely affected the poor.

68.

Justin Welby has expressed concern that Universal Credit is harming poor people and said in September 2018 that its rollout should be stopped.

69.

Justin Welby has been a strong supporter of Anglican consecration of women as bishops.

70.

In November 2013, Justin Welby stated he aimed to ordain women as bishops while allowing space for those who disagree.

71.

In February 2014, Justin Welby called on Anglicans to avoid fear, prejudice and suspicion and to grasp "cultural change in the life of the church":.

72.

Justin 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.

73.

In February 2017, Justin Welby apologised unreservedly after allegations that barrister and evangelical Christian John Smyth beat boys in the late 1970s, mainly pupils at Winchester College, until their wounds bled and left permanent scars.

74.

Justin Welby's early grounding in Christian doctrine was rooted in the 'Bash Camp' network founded by Eric Nash.

75.

Justin Welby became a dormitory officer at the camps held in the Dorset village of Iwerne Minster.

76.

In 1978, Justin Welby left the UK to work in Paris, and Justin Welby stated that "I had no contact with them at all".

77.

In 2012, a victim of Smyth reported the abuse to the Church of England and Justin Welby was informed in 2013.

78.

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 Justin Welby, had been made aware of the allegations against Mr Smyth, even those who had been abroad".

79.

Questions have remained among Smyth victims as to when Justin Welby first knew, and some have labelled the Archbishop an "observer", a term denoting a person who knew about abuse but who did not report appropriately.

80.

On 30 March 2021, Justin Welby confirmed that he had presided over a private exchange of vows on the Wednesday.

81.

Justin Welby is married to Caroline Eaton and they have had six children.

82.

Justin Welby acknowledges his privileged education and upbringing and has been praised for sending his own children to local state schools.

83.

Justin Welby is a French speaker and an avid Francophile, having lived and worked in France.