The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed thanks for prayers and support as he recovers from pneumonia.
“Sorry for missing Christmas,” Archbishop Justin Welby said on Twitter on Sunday morning. He was unable to deliver his Christmas Day sermon at Canterbury Cathedral because of what was initially described as “a severe cold”, but was later revealed to be pneumonia.
Grateful for prayers & support from so many, & to such a gracious God. Better fast, brill @NHSEngland, a gift! Sorry for missing Christmas.
— Justin Welby (@JustinWelby) December 28, 2014
The Archbishop also thanked the NHS after staff visited him on Christmas Day.
“Grateful for prayers and support from so many, and to such a gracious God,” the Archbishop tweeted. “Better fast, brill @NHSEngland, a gift!”
On Boxing Day his daughter, Katharine Welby Roberts, said that her father was “on the mend”. “Thanks to brill NHS coming to visit yesterday!” she added.
The Archbishop’s Christmas sermon, in which he said that Christ’s birth was transformative for the oppressed and not some “naïve” happy ending, was released instead as a Christmas message.
In it he wrote: “This means that whilst we must truly face the state of the world to which Jesus came, we can – we must – be equally realistic about the difference he makes. Jesus did not come for one day. Jesus changed things for ever."
On Christmas morning the dean of Canterbury Cathedral, Robert Willis, preached in the archbishop’s place.
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