The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has criticised the election of the Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann as the Archbishop of Wales, describing it as a further indication of abandonment of the faith once delivered to the saints.
The Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann, known to be a practising homosexual and in a civil partnership with Wendy Diamond, was elected as the Archbishop of Wales on Wednesday, July 30, 2025.
Having served as the Bishop of Monmouth for the past five years, Vann was chosen as the 15th Archbishop of Wales.
She is set to succeed Bishop Andrew John, who retired in July after three and a half years as the leader of the Church in Wales.
The election was secured with a two-thirds majority vote from members of the Electoral College during its meeting at the St Pierre Church and Hotel in Chepstow.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Anglican Primate, Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba, declared that the Church of Nigeria will not recognise the election of Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann as Archbishop of Wales.
He stated that Vann’s election signals that certain sections of the global Anglican world have resolved to abandon the truth of God’s word, sacrificing the authority of Scripture for a postmodern agenda that lacks divine backing.
The Primate added that her election serves as further authentication of the Church of Wales’s choice to depart from the truth.
He further contended that this development impairs the church’s credibility for missions and evangelism, and its ability to safeguard the very essence of Anglican orthodoxy.
The statement read, “We recall with sadness her passive and complicit role in the same-sex crisis that tore the Anglican Communion apart. The story of Rt. Rev. Vann reminds us of the sad tenure of Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori, the 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States (2006–2015), under whose tenure faithful Anglicans in the United States of America suffered severe persecution and opposition.
“This recent election of Bishop Vann is a clear revelation that many who claim to be members of the body of Christ cannot endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
He called upon Anglicans to denounce, reject, condemn, and expel the rebels within their midst, and to realign themselves with Anglican remnants scattered across troubled dioceses globally, under the umbrella of faithful Anglican Christian bodies such as GAFCON.
“As a matter of urgency, the Church of Nigeria believes that this moment calls for prayer for the Church of Wales, hoping that the Church of England will not follow in her steps.
“We should hold them in our prayers with a clear message that hope lies only in true repentance and godliness; otherwise, this Church will lose complete relevance in the divine scheme for the people of Wales, and the leaders in compromise shall not be spared in time of judgment,” the statement concluded.
