The outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury will not take part in any public Christmas services this year, despite still being in post until January.
Lambeth Palace confirmed Justin Welby will spend the festive period privately with family, following his announcement in November that he was quitting over failures in the Church’s handling of an abuse scandal.
Mr Welby’s last day in the job will be January 6.
While Lambeth Palace had said he was likely to have “very little public-facing activity” between now and that date, it has been confirmed he will not be participating in any public Advent and Christmas services.
It had been tradition for the Archbishop of Canterbury to deliver a sermon on Christmas Day from Canterbury Cathedral.
It is likely Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell’s sermon will instead be the focus on December 25.
The BBC had already confirmed Mr Welby will not deliver the traditional televised new year message on New Year’s Day.
Mr Cottrell, the second-most senior bishop in the Church of England, will take on many of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s official functions temporarily from January 6.
On Wednesday, Lambeth Palace confirmed the King had agreed to that date being Mr Welby’s last in post.
A statement said: “From that date, his primatial functions will be delegated, mainly to the Archbishop of York, his metropolitan functions to the Bishop of London and his diocesan functions to the Bishop of Dover.”
The process for appointing the next Archbishop of Canterbury – of which Mr Cottrell has appeared to rule himself out of the running for – is expected to take some months.
At the time of announcing his resignation, Mr Welby said he was quitting “in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse” following days of pressure after the independent Makin Review concluded John Smyth – the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church – might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police in 2013.
Mr Welby had initially declined to resign when the report was published, saying he had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse” before 2013 but acknowledging the review had found that after its wider exposure that year he had “personally failed to ensure” it was “energetically investigated”.
Across five decades in three different countries and involving as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa, Smyth is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives.
He died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the review said.
Meanwhile this week, it has also been confirmed that the former personal chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013 has “stepped back from her ministry” following the Makin Review into the Church’s handling of Smyth’s abuse allegations.
Rev Jo Bailey Wells is currently the first Bishop for Episcopal Ministry in the Anglican Communion.
A Diocese of London spokesperson said: “In light of the Makin Report, Jo Bailey Wells stepped back from her ministry in the Diocese of London, pending a safeguarding risk assessment.”
Separately, new figures showed attendance at Church of England Christmas services rose by a fifth last year, but overall attendance remains below pre-pandemic levels.
The latest data suggested that just under two million people – 1,961,000 – attended services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 2023.
This was up from 1,636,000 for the same services in 2022.
The Church’s regular worshippers – those who worship once a month or more either in church or at home – numbered 1,007,000 people in 2023.
This is 10% lower than in 2019, but 2.5% higher than in 2022, according to the Church’s Statistics for Mission report.
The Church of England’s all-age average weekly attendance, which includes Sunday and midweek, was 693,000 people in 2023 – made up of 598,000 adults and 95,000 children under 16.
