As Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury visits Rome for a series of encounters with Pope Francis and other religious leaders, the head of the Anglican Communion sits down with Vatican News to discuss topics ranging from ecumenical efforts on climate change to synodality and hopes for a joint visit to South Sudan.

Christopher Wells

Among his many visits this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, took a moment to set down with Vatican News for a wide-ranging interview.
Earlier in the day he had met in audience with Pope Francis at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.
In the interview following the encounter, the Primate of All England explored how all faiths can work together to advance the cause of protecting the environment, what experiences the Anglican Communion can offer the Catholic Church as the Synod on synodality begins, and his enduring hopes for a joint visit with Pope Francis to South Sudan.
Archbishop Welby rounded off the interview mentioning the suffering caused by the ongoing pandemic, and offering a reminder that God is greater than any trouble the world can throw against us. below:

As you know the Catholic Church is about to begin a 2-year synod process on the theme of synodality. The Anglican Communion has a very long history of synodality and perhaps a different experience of synodality from the Catholic Church. Can you speak briefly as to how synodality is lived in the Anglican Communion, and what your lived experience can offer to the church as we embark on our own synodal process?

Yes, I think it’s fascinating that this is happening in the Catholic Church, and I’m very interested by it. The ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion — ARCIC — has looked at this in a recent publication. And they’ve concluded that although we both talk about synodality we mean something slightly different.
Within Anglicanism, synodality, most synods — to say anything happens everywhere in Anglicanism is always asking for trouble.
Within the Church of England for instance, we have three Houses: Bishops, clergy, and laity. And they — the synod for us — enables at three levels: the Deanery which is the very local, just above the parish; at the Diocesan; and at the National in the Church of England, to hear the voice of lay, ordained, and episcopal. That really matters.
We think that has a very fundamental ecclesiological understanding of the laos, the people of God expressing their sense of how the Spirit is leading the church. And it’s very interesting. Benedict, in his Rule, talks about in the Monastery — I think it’s chapter 3 or something like that — he talks about in the Monastery, when they have a big decision, they should get everyone together because the youngest and least important may actually have the wisdom, the wise word by the Spirit.
Synods can become entrenched as any other structure in the church, so I think it’s very important that “synod,” which in a wonderful allocution in the middle of one of the, I think it was the synod on the family, or it might have been the synod on youth, in his middle allocution during the three-week period, the Holy Father talked about the synod — literally meaning of walking together, syn-hodos — as being on the same path.
And in our meeting Tuesday morning, we talked about the need for the church not to be stuck, not be stationary, but to be walking. And there, I think, we have the same understanding of the ecclesiology of what it is to be the church, that we walk together. And synod at its best enables us to walk together, listening to one another carefully. Strengthening the weak, and enabling the strong to serve the weak, and not to dominate.

Pope Francis has talked about listening to all of the voices… in the church, in the Catholic Church, in the wider Christian communion, and, in fact, voices outside of Christianity. Just from your perspective, have you thought about how the Anglican Communion can offer a contribution to the Catholic synod on synodality.

I think one of the most exciting developments in ecumenical dialogue over the last many years has been that we have learned not to lecture and say ‘We’ve got this and we are now going to teach you’; but to say, ‘We need to learn from you.’
So, I think that that is how we need to behave with each other, that we both need to learn from each other. I would hope that we will learn much from the deep profound wisdom of the Catholic Church and on the other side that we may have, perhaps, some things to contribute. But in the grace of God, let’s wait and see.