Bishops from around the world joined in a two-minute silence marking Hiroshima Day as they prayed for areas of war and uncertainty around the world.
The Lambeth Conference has issued a series of public “statements of support” highlighting needs around the world from conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the invasion of Ukraine to gun violence in the United States.
Among the 14 statements, each presented by a sponsoring bishop, the Conference voiced concern for the crisis in Sri Lanka, the peace of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and the people of Burma/Myanmar.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, brought a statement of support for Nigeria and another remembering the global refugee and migration crisis. Meanwhile Archbishop Linda Nicholls of Canada sponsored a statement affirming support for the rights of indigenous peoples.
During the meeting representatives from Kenya, Brazil and the Philippines in turn were asked to stand while bishops reached out towards them and the Archbishop of Canterbury prayed for their countries, amid upcoming or recent elections.
Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford in the Church of England, led the bishops in prayer for Iran, where she was born, remembering the “faithful remnant” of Christians in the country.
And on the 77th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, Archbishop Welby invited the bishops to observe two minutes of silence to remember the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the threat posed by nuclear weapons. The bishops sat in silence before sharing the grace together.
