It was repeated often enough during the pandemic that no one is safe unless everyone is safe: have we really not noticed that this applies to our economic as much as to our medical wellbeing?

Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, The Guardian, 31 December

The cost-of-living crisis is in fact an example of costs being transferred from the powerful to the powerless — from ambitious speculators, market fundamentalists (in and out of government), naked profiteers and, in the past horrendous ten months of war in Ukraine, foreign dictators, to a population pushed with increasing aggressiveness into debt, housing, food and energy poverty, and insecure working conditions. It is a sign that we have once again forgotten the “covenantal” character of community

Ibid.

It [the Coronation] is giving me nightmares already. . . Two nights ago, I dreamt that we got to the point and I’d left the crown at Lambeth Palace. Now, how did I get the crown to Lambeth Palace since it’s guarded by half of the army? I have no idea. But I was looking around, and the King was looking at me; it was a nightmare! So it’s obviously weighing on me quite a lot

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, Channel 4 News, 23 December

When in history have there not been divisions in the Church? A far bigger problem for me has been the Church seeming hypocritical. The child-abuse scandals have been a disaster. One thing you can’t do in this culture is say one thing and do another

Philip North, Bishop of Burnley, quoted in the Financial Times, 23 December

The more consideration I’ve given it [assisted dying], the more doubts I harbour that the risk of vulnerable individuals suffering a wrongful death as a product of abusive relationships or family pressure can be effectively eliminated. For now, that makes it difficult for me to support

Sonia Sodha, The Observer, 1 January

Great sadness and symmetry in the deaths of Pele and Pope Benedict within days of each other, especially for us football-loving theologians. Both brought a level of beauty and intricate artistry to their different worlds

Graham Tomlin, former Bishop of Kensington, Twitter, 31 December

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