Robert Runcie


The Lord Runcie

Archbishop of Canterbury
ChurchChurch of England
ProvinceCanterbury
DioceseCanterbury
Installed25 March 1980
Term ended31 January 1991
PredecessorDonald Coggan
SuccessorGeorge Carey
Other post(s)Primate of All England
Previous post(s)Bishop of St Albans (1970–1980)
Orders
Ordination24 December 1950 (deacon)
December 1951 (priest)
by Noel Hudson
Consecration24 February 1970
by Michael Ramsey
Personal details
Born
Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie

(1921-10-02)2 October 1921
Birkenhead, England
Died11 July 2000(2000-07-11) (aged 78)
St Albans, Hertfordshire, England
BuriedSt Albans Cathedral
NationalityBritish
DenominationAnglican
Spouse
(m. 1957)
Children2, including James Runcie
Alma mater
SignatureThe Lord Runcie's signature

Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, MC, PC (2 October 1921 – 11 July 2000) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991, having previously been Bishop of St Albans. He travelled the world widely to spread ecumenicism and worked to foster relations with both Protestant and Catholic churches across Europe. He was a leader of the Liberal Anglo-Catholicism movement. He came under attack for expressing compassion towards bereaved Argentines after the Falklands War of 1982, and generated controversy by supporting women's ordination.[1][2]

Biographer Adrian Hastings argues that Runcie was not a distinguished writer or thinker, but was a good administrator who made shrewd appointments, demanded quality, and recognised good performances.[3]

  1. ^ John Cannon, The Oxford companion to British history (2002), p. 826.
  2. ^ "Archbishop of Canterbury's letter to Cardinal Willebrands on ordination to the priesthood". IARCCUM.org. 22 November 1985. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  3. ^ Adrian Hastings, Robert Runcie (Continuum, 1991).