The Anglican Church of Nigeria has rejected the election of the first female archbishop in the United Kingdom.
On 30 July, Cherry Elizabeth Vann was announced as Archbishop of Wales, having received the required two-thirds majority of votes on the second day of the meeting of the electoral college at Chepstow. Vann is the first woman to be elected as an Anglican archbishop in the United Kingdom and the first openly lesbian and partnered bishop to serve as a primate in the Anglican Communion.
In response, Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba, Primate of the Church of Nigeria, said, “The recent election of The Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann on Wednesday, 30th July, 2025 as Archbishop of Wales is a further indication and abandonment of the faith once delivered to the saints, Bishop Vann being a practising homosexual.”
Ndukuba said the Anglican Church in Nigeria recalls with “sadness her passive and complicit role in the same-sex crisis that tore the Anglican Communion apart” and that the appointment is a “further authentication of the choice of the Church of Wales walking away from the truth.”
He further referenced the leadership of the previous Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, who retired as bishop after it was revealed that two reports critical of behaviour at Bangor Cathedral had been published, finding that “sexual boundaries seemed blurred” and that alcohol had been consumed to excess. Though John was not deemed personally responsible for these issues, Ndukuba said that his tenure, combined with that of Vann, was evidence that “biblical and godly leaders are now few in the leadership of the Church of Wales.”
Calling on his own Church to act in leadership, Ndukuba said, “We will strive to uphold the authority of the Scriptures, our historic creeds, evangelism and holy Christian living. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ will build His Church and ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). We call upon faithful Christians of the Anglican fold to denounce, reject, condemn and expel the rebels in our midst, while we realign ourselves with Anglican remnants scattered in troubled dioceses all over the world, under the umbrella of faithful Anglican Christian bodies like GAFCON.”
GAFCON, the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, is a conservative movement within Anglicanism which opposes the influence of theological and social liberal ideals that have become increasingly mainstream in parts of Anglicanism, particularly in the northern hemisphere. Today the GAFCON-aligned Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (formerly Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans) collectively represents around 40 million members globally, making it a significant force within the Anglican Communion.
Vann was one of the first female priests in the Anglican Communion and the third woman to become a bishop in the Church in Wales. The Church in Wales allows clergy to be in same-sex civil partnerships, and Vann lives with her female civil partner.
Speaking in an interview with The Guardian, Vann has said that “gay marriage in church is inevitable” and that the question is “when.” However, in response to those within the Anglican Communion who do not recognise it, she said that “I have to honour their position, which is theologically grounded. It isn’t my job to push something through that would alienate a good proportion of clergy.”
Vann is expected to be enthroned as a bishop in the Anglican Communion at Newport Cathedral in the coming months.
