The new Archbishop of Canterbury has revealed that he regarded his application for the job as a “joke”. He described how he was ordered by the Church of England to apply after just seven months as Bishop of Durham even though he thought it ridiculous.

Speaking in an interview at Trent Vineyard, an evangelical church near Nottingham, Justin Welby said that he had been “told”, as one of the top five diocesan bishops, to apply. But he did not take the prospect seriously.

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The Right Revd Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of Canterbury Elect, tonight (Monday January 28) bade farewell to the Durham Diocese with a message of hope for the people he is leaving behind.

Bishop Justin attended a service of farewell, thanks and celebration at Durham Cathedral in what was his last public appearance in the diocese before he receives his legal title as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Bishop Justin will cease to be Bishop of Durham and have the legal title bestowed on him as Archbishop of Canterbury at 12 noon on the 4th February at a formal service in St Paul’s Cathedral in London. His public ministry will be inaugurated at an enthronement service at Canterbury Cathedral on 21st March.

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Responding to the debate, Dr Giddings said that he had “no choice” about when he spoke in the women-bishops debate. His words had not been intended to undermine or personally criticise Bishop Welby, but, in any case, he had offered “an apology for any offence my words may have caused him”.

Bishop Welby’s reply was quoted to the Synod, with permission: “It never crossed my mind that you were in the slightest being offensive, discourteous, impolite, [or disrespectful]. . . I did think you were wrong! You thought I was, but we really need to be able to disagree, as I am sure you do agree.”

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Before being enthroned in Canterbury Cathedral in two months’ time, the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Justin Welby, has agreed to occupy another chair: that of the editor of The Northern Echo.

Bishop Welby was invited to guest-edit the newspaper last Friday, to mark the first anniversary of the Darlington Foundation for Jobs, a joint initiative to tackle youth unemployment, led by The Northern Echo and Darlington Borough Council. He is patron of the scheme.

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Late one night 20 years ago, when I was an oil executive rather than an Anglican bishop, I had run out of steam and patience toward the end of a complex multinational acquisition. We came to yet another bit of box ticking and I suggested we skip it, because we knew the material was accurate.

“Justin,” our wise investment-bank director said quietly, “you know that’s not how we do it.”

Under pressure, everyone is prone to make bad decisions and that story remains in my mind as I sit on the U.K.’s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, listening to people talk about banks, bankers and their failures.

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The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, must be hoping that his tenure will not be dogged and disrupted by rows about homosexuals and women bishops.

His forerunner, Rowan Williams, was almost completely derailed by such quarrels. Much of the rest of what he had to say was drowned by the din of factional infighting, baffling to the uncommitted.

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A medieval ceremony has begun the process of the Rt Revd Justin Welby becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The College of Canons of Canterbury Cathedral has unanimously elected Bishop Justin Welby as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury.

The 35-strong College of Canons, made up of senior clergy and lay people from the Diocese of Canterbury, met at Canterbury Cathedral’s 14th-century Chapter House to take part in the formality, which dates back more than 1000 years.

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On 10th January 2013, the College of Canons will meet in the Chapter House of Canterbury Cathedral to elect Bishop Justin as the new Archbishop, having received the Congé d’Élire and Letter Missive from the Crown authorising the Election to take place.

A further legal ceremony, the Confirmation of Election, will take place on 4th February 2013 at St Paul’s Cathedral. The Dean of Canterbury will report to a commission of senior diocesan bishops chaired by the Archbishop of York that Bishop Justin has been elected according to statute, and the Archbishop of York, on behalf of his fellow bishops and the wider Church, will confer on him the ”˜spiritualities’ of the diocese of Canterbury.

At this point, he becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury – until then he remains Bishop of Durham.

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