The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has criticised the election of the Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann, as the Archbishop of Wales, and described it as a further indication of abandonment of the faith once delivered to the saints.
Vann, who is 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.
Vann, who had served as the Bishop of Monmouth for the past five years, was chosen as the 15th Archbishop of Wales.
She is to succeed Bishop Andrew John, who retired in July after three and a half years as the leader of the Church in Wales.
She was elected having secured a two-thirds majority vote from members of the Electoral College at its meeting at the St Pierre Church and Hotel in Chepstow.
In a statement on Sunday, the Anglican Primate, Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba, said that Church of Nigeria will not recognise the election of Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann as Archbishop of Wales.
He stated that Vann’s election is a signal that some sections of the global Anglican world have resolved to abandon the truth of God’s word by sacrificing the authority of Scripture for a postmodern agenda that has no divine backing.
The Primate added that her election is a further authentication of the choice of the Church of Wales walking away from the truth.
He added that the development is an impairment of the church’s credibility to do missions and evangelism, and to salvage the very soul 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 on Anglicans to denounce, reject, condemn, and expel the rebels in their midst, and realign themselves with Anglican remnants scattered in troubled dioceses all over the world, under the umbrella of faithful Anglican Christian bodies like 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 added.
