Coronavirus: Archbishop of Canterbury secretly 'volunteering as chaplain on coronavirus wards'

'There is some personal risk but he doesn’t really think about that. He just thinks this is what Christians should be doing, helping others,' says source

The CoE head delivers his Easter Sunday sermon from his kitchen in London amid the coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak (Reuters)

The Archbishop of Canterbury has been volunteering as a chaplain at St Thomas’ hospital in central London in secret, according to a report.

Justin Welby has been visiting the hospital regularly to assist those who are sick with coronavirus, reported the Daily Telegraph. He lives nearby in his flat at Lambeth Palace.

The newspaper reported that, as with all other volunteer chaplains, Mr Welby has undergone special training and wears personal protective equipment (PPE) over his black clerical shirt and dog collar.

A source close to the archbishop told The Telegraph he had been volunteering there since lockdown began in March as St Thomas’ is “his local hospital so he walks there”.

“He gets a lot of solace from doing it. Just being able to physically see people and pray with them during lockdown – it’s what the clergy had been doing the length and breadth of the country,” the source added.

“There is some personal risk but he doesn’t really think about that. He just thinks this is what Christians should be doing, helping others.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was treated for coronavirus at St Thomas’ hospital for a week last month, but The Telegraph’s source said Mr Welby started making his visits after Mr Johnson was discharged.

The Church of England suspended all religious services from 17 March until further notice, after the archbishops of Canterbury and York encouraged parishes to conduct services via live-stream.

Most recently, Mr Welby led the first national digital Easter Sunday service from his kitchen, in a pre-recorded sermon broadcast online.

But the church’s approach to the crisis was criticised by over 800 clergymen who signed a letter to The Times arguing that preventing them from visiting their church to pray or broadcast a service represents “a failure of the Church’s responsibility to the nation”.

In the letter, the bishops wrote: “Without detracting from the excellent worship offered by many clergy in their homes, domestic settings cannot replace the church buildings that represent the consecration of our public life.”

They also claimed the clergy had been “prevented from ministering in schools… and to the sick and dying in the hospitals”.