Two Telegraph articles, written by Georgia Graham and John Bingham, came from The Archbishop of Canterbury’s words to members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Westminster.
From “Justin Welby: I broke down in tears at horror of Church child abuse”, saying the church had “failed terribly”:
The Most Rev Justin Welby said the details of sexual abuse dating back decades are “beyond description – terrible” and that he had been profoundly moved by the “shredding effect” of survivors’ experiences.
He also said the full scale of the abuse has not been revealed and that the failure of the Church was greater than other institutions such as children’s homes and the media because it purports to hold itself to a “far, far higher standard”….
But he insisted that the Church is now taking the issue as seriously as possible, including trawling through 60 years of clergy personnel files searching for evidence of abuse which had gone unnoticed.
From “Archbishop of Canterbury condemns politicians who view immigration as a ‘deep menace’”:
The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned politicians who speak of immigration as a “deep menace” which will “overwhelm” the country for voicing un-Christian and un-British rhetoric….
He said the country needed a prudent but generous immigration policy but that he worries deeply about the tone adopted in the political debate towards immigrants….
“But at the heart of Christian teaching about the human being is [that] all human beings are of absolutely equal and infinite value and the language we use must reflect the value of the human being and not treat immigration as just a deep menace that is somehow going to overwhelm a country that has coped with many waves of immigration and has usually done so with enormous success.”