Church ‘vital to social cohesion’, says Welby in New Year message

The Church of England is the glue that holds society together, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in his first New Year message, in which he urged Christians to “change the world”, writes Liz Dodd.

Archbishop Justin Welby, pictured below, rejected claims that the Church should not involve itself in politics and said that campaigning about heating bills and the family fulfilled the commandment to love your neighbour.

In a message broadcast on New Year’s Day by the BBC, Archbishop Welby quoted Nelson Mandela, who died last year, as saying that dealing with poverty was an act of justice rather than charity. 

“I look around and I see many signs of hope, but there are also many communities struggling,” he said. “Perhaps our New Year resolution is not just to do something slightly different, but to set our eyes on changing the world around us. That would really change our country in the most amazing way.”

He reflected on the high points of his first year in his new role, which included the baptism of Prince George in October.

Earlier the archbishop, who was enthroned in March, said that Pope Francis was his “man of the year”.

He told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme on Tuesday that he thought the Pope was extraordinary and led by example.

“He has changed the sense of direction and purpose of the Church with his personal example and words,” he said.

Archbishop Welby met the Pope for the first time in June and is due to make another longer visit to Rome in the New Year. The two are understood to be working on a joint initiative on how to combat poverty.

On the same programme he admitted that the Church of England still had an £80,000 investment in the payday lender Wonga.

He said that the Church was working to find a way to disinvest without losing money for its pensioners.

His admission comes five months after he criticised the company and said he wanted to compete it out of existence, and a day later said he was “embarrassed” to discover that the Church invested in it.