The Church in Wales has declined to respond directly to criticism from Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba over the election of Cherry Vann, its new archbishop.

In a brief email to OJ-UGANDA, Church in Wales staff said they had “no comment on that issue.”

But they stressed that Vann’s election “has been warmly welcomed by Christians across the ecumenical spectrum, including the Catholic Church”.

The response came after Uganda’s Archbishop Kaziimba condemned Vann’s election on account of her sexual orientation.

Speaking at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala last week, he said: “We were all shocked by the appointment of Archbishop Cherry Vann, who is a lesbian; such decisions in the church make many people, including us, wonder what really happened to the word and true values of God.”

Vann, 66, was announced on 30 July as the new Archbishop of Wales. She is the first woman to lead the Church in Wales and the first openly gay cleric to head one of Britain’s Anglican provinces.

Ordained in 1994, she has served as Bishop of Monmouth since 2019.

Her election has split opinion in the wider Anglican Communion.

Homophobia in Uganda runs deep, and same-sex marriage is illegal.

In March 2023, President Yoweri Museveni signed into law the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ bill, allowing the death penalty for homosexual acts.

Even as the move drew condemnation from many Ugandans as well as widespread international outrage, the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, took to social media and declared: “The president … has assented to the Anti-Homosexuality Act. As the parliament of Uganda, we have answered the cries of our people. We have legislated to protect the sanctity of [the] family.”

The first time the anti-homosexuality legislation was introduced in 2014, the constitutional court annulled it on the grounds that the bill was passed by MPs without the requisite quorum and was therefore illegal.

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