Anglican Communion News Service

On 22 February, the third day of his visit to the Holy Land, the Archbishop of Canterbury was received in a series of meetings by the three most senior heads of churches in Jerusalem: His Beatitude Theophilus III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and members of the Holy Synod, His Beatitude Torkom II, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, and His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

In a wide-ranging address to the General Synod in London, the Archbishop of Canterbury discusses the nature of human freedom and the value of listening and learning from one another, in both national and international debates, as well as those occurring during Synod this week.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, today expressed his regret at the decision of the Most Revd Dr Mouneer Anis, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and President Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, to resign from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has given a message of support to the people of Haiti affected by the devastation caused by Tuesday's earthquake..."I am profoundly shocked and concerned to hear about the devastating earthquake in Haiti. As the news comes through, we are learning more about the tragic loss of life, injury suffered and terrible damage to the country.

This morning’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews begins with the boldest and most unambiguous statement possible of what’s new and different about Christmas. God has always been communicating with humanity, in any number of ways; but what we need from God is more than just information. The climax of the story is the sending of a Son: when all has been said and done on the level of information what still needs to be made clear to us is that the point of it all is relationship. 

The election of Mary Glasspool by the Diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has released his 2009 World Aids Day video, in which he speaks with the Revd Patricia Sawo, a church leader and mother from Kenya, about her experiences of living with HIV. The video highlights the plight of expectant mothers who are HIV positive and the support they need to prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury today gave an address in Rome, as the guest of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The address is part of a symposium being held at the Gregorian University, to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Cardinal Willebrands, the first president of the Council.

In a lecture on12th November, the RSA, Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, set out the principles by which development agencies and faith communities can engage in dialogue to build trust and mutual understanding of their distinctive motivations in order to collaborate more effectively in tackling issues of justice and global poverty.

 The Archbishop of Canterbury hosted a meeting of faith leaders and faith-based and community organisations at Lambeth Palace to discuss the response of faith communities to the environmental crisis. With 40 days to go before the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit the participants have pledged to work together to raise awareness about the effects of ‘catastrophic climate change’ on the world’s poor.

Today's announcement of the Apostolic Constitution is a response by Pope Benedict XVI to a number of requests over the past few years to the Holy See from groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and are willing to declare that they share a common Catholic faith and accept the Petrine ministry as willed by Christ for his Church.

In a lecture today at Southwark Cathedral (sponsored by the Christian environmental group Operation Noah) Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, sets out a Christian vision of how people can respond to the looming environmental crisis. Beginning with the story of Noah and the Flood, Dr Williams highlights the “burden of responsibility for what confronts us here and now as a serious crisis and challenge”.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, currently visiting the Anglican Church in Japan, today took part in an Act of Remembrance at the epicentre of the atomic bomb blast in Nagasaki. During the Act of Remembrance, Dr Williams laid flowers at the memorial and spoke about the pressing importance of working for a world free from nuclear weapons.

As part of his week-long visit to Japan for the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Anglican Church in Japan, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams gave on Monday 21st a lecture to students and academics at Rikkyo Gaukin University, an Anglican university in Tokyo.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has today made the following statement regarding the violence in Pakistan: The recent atrocities against Christians in Pakistan will sear the imaginations of countless people of all faiths throughout the world. As the minister of law in the Punjab has already said, such actions are not the work of true Muslims.

Reflections on the Episcopal Church's 2009 General Convention from the Archbishop of Canterbury for the Bishops, Clergy and Faithful of the Anglican Communion.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has issued a statement in support of today’s ‘Sudan Day of Action’ which calls for a renewed commitment to sustainable peace in Sudan. The Sudan Day of Action, organised by Baroness Cox and the Sudan Action Group, aims to raise awareness for the desperate plight of the people of Sudan. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams reminds Christians that belief in God is about living in the reality of faith and the unselfish life, and not about opinions or philosophical proofs. In his Easter sermon delivered at Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Williams identifies St Paul as an early example of someone living the brave reality of faith, putting his life at risk for the sake of his belief and witness to the resurrection:

Following the Report of the Windsor Continuation Group to the Archbishop of Canterbury (which was published at the Primates Meeting in Alexandria, Egypt, in February 2009) the initial group of Pastoral Visitors called for by the Windsor Continuation Group in their Report and commended by the Primates Meeting in their Communiqué (para 15) met for a briefing session at Virginia Theological Seminary from 25-28 February.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has received a warm welcome from His Beatitude Theodoros II,  the Greek Orthodox Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and Africa, during a visit to his residence in Alexandria.

It’s always a relief to have a bit of space after the busyness of Christmas to relax at home and mull over the past 12 months and the hopes and possibilities of the year ahead. The prospect of this coming year, though, is one that produces a lot of anxiety and insecurity for countless people. There are fears about disappearing savings, lost jobs, house repossessions and worse. While the headlines are often about the big figures, it’s the human cost that makes it real for us.

In his Christmas sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, the Archbishop of Canterbury says that one of the lessons of the coming of Christ is that people shouldn't waste time waiting for larger-than-life heroes to bring comprehensive and total solutions to the ills of the world.

Human beings, left to themselves, have imagined God in all sorts of shapes; but - although there were one or two instances, in Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, of gods being pictured as boys - it took Christianity to introduce the world to the idea of God in the form of a baby: in the form of complete dependence and fragility, without power or control. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has recorded a video message to mark the 20th annual World AIDS day on December 1st 2008. The video sees the Archbishop talk about the Church’s worldwide involvement in care and education surrounding HIV and AIDS, and calls for faith leaders to ‘encourage and support’ what is being done by listening to those who work on the front lines

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has today written to the High Commissioner of India, Mr Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, expressing his shock and outrage at the appalling atrocities in Mumbai and offering on behalf of the whole Anglican Communion prayers for those who have lost loved ones...

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams with the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, invited representatives from all the religious communities to join the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz Project tomorrow on their one day visit to the former Nazi camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.

At a press conference today, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and His Excellency Dr Ali Gomaa, presented the communiqué from ‘A Common Word’ conference, a meeting of leading Muslim and Christian clerics and scholars.

On the eve of the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Millennium Development Goals in New York, the Archbishop of Canterbury has underlined the commitment of the Anglican Church to continue to work for the eradication of poverty.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, yesterday met with the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger. The following communiqué was signed: The third meeting of the Chief Rabbis of Israel and the Archbishop of Canterbury was held on 9th September 2008

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has today sent a letter to the bishops of the Anglican Communion, setting out his personal reflections on the Lambeth Conference.