My Favourite Archbishops

For international readers: Dr Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterburyand thus the biggest cheese in the Church of England. The good doctor has been in hot water recently because he was openly critical of the government’s slash’n’burn approach to the welfare state. Not only that, but he made the entirely reasonable point that most of what they’re doing was absent from the pre-election posturing – sorry, campaigning.

Dr Williams (see also Quote of the Week 8.2.10) thus gains a sought-after place in my Episcopal pantheon. Here are some other preferred primates:

• Archbishop Oscár Romero of El Salvador, assassinated at the altar in 1980. Why? For sticking up for the poor in opposition to the military junta. His most famous quote: “Stop the repression!”
• Archbishop Hélder Câmara of Brazil. Most famous quote: “When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist”
• Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury during the darkest days of Thatcherism. He managed to get well up Mrs T’s nose on a number of occasions, thus endearing himself to millions of others.
• Desmond Tutu. For obvious reasons.

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