The Anglican leader recalled the desperation and sorrow he felt when he visited Grenfell Tower in west London as it burned.
He also highlighted the plight of people who were “struggling to find work or relying on food banks” and those who were bereaved, or coping with poor mental health or physical illness.
“When things feel unrelentingly difficult, there are often questions which hang in the air: Is there any light at all? Does anyone care?” he said.
He cited a passage from the Bible’s Gospel of John: “The light shone in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”