New leader of world's Anglicans, Justin Welby, has been enthroned in Canterbury

JUSTIN Welby has been enthroned as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, taking over the leadership of 80 million Anglicans worldwide.

Canterbury

THE new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has been enthroned, taking over the leadership of 80 million Anglicans worldwide in a service enlivened by African dancers and in which a woman archdeacon played a key role.

Archbishop Welby, a 57-year-old former oil executive, was formally sworn in as head of the Church of England in front of 2,000 guests at Canterbury Cathedral including Prime Minister David Cameron and heir to the throne Prince Charles.

The service included other unusual touches, with a hymn set to a Punjabi melody and drummers and dancers filled the cathedral with a thunderous rhythm either side of Welby's reading from the gospel.

For the first time in history, a woman enthroned the archbishop. The Venerable Sheila Watson, Archdeacon of Canterbury, played an integral role in the service which marks the formal start of Archbishop Welby's ministry as he takes over from Rowan Williams.

His enthronement took place just two days after the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, Pope Francis, was inaugurated.

The pope sent a message of goodwill to Arhbishop Welby, saying he hoped to meet him soon and uphold the “fraternal” rapport between their churches.

PICTURE GALLERY: Archbishop of Canterbury enthroned

In his sermon, Archbishop Welby said he wanted to foster closer ties with other Christians and heal splits within the Anglican communion which is deeply divided over the issue of women bishops.

“The Church transforms society when it takes the risks of renewal in prayer, of reconciliation and of confident declaration of the good news of Jesus Christ,” he said.

“There is every possible reason for optimism about the future of Christian faith in our world and in this country.”

Archbishop Welby added: “The present challenges of environment and economy, of human development and global poverty, can only be faced with extraordinary Christ-liberated courage.”

The archbishop left the cathedral to the sound of spontaneous applause as he walked behind the primatial cross of Canterbury.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, the leader of Catholics in England, said before the service that it was “exhilarating” that Archbishop Welby was taking over as head of the Anglicans just as the former Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope.

He said Francis had “a clear sense of affinity with Justin Welby, very strongly pressing the need to proclaim the gospel”.

Leaders from various other religions including Greek Orthodox, Muslims, Buddhists and Jews also attended the service.

Since officially becoming archbishop on February 4 in a ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral, Archbishop Welby has not shied away from taking on the government, saying welfare reforms would harm vulnerable children.

He is not a typical churchman. Married with five children, he rose to the top of the oil industry and gave up a six-figure salary to train as a priest.

Archbishop Welby went for a run yesterday morning and tweeted in the build-up to the service: “Out early this morning, Canterbury is beautiful, human scale and history falling out of the walls everywhere. Grateful to be here.”

AFP