Archbishop of Canterbury uses first Easter sermon to pray for Middle East peace

The Archbishop of Canterbury will call “with renewed urgency” for peace in the Middle East as she delivers her first Easter sermon as the Church of England’s top bishop.

Dame Sarah Mullally will pray for “an end to the violence and destruction” in the region during her sermon at Canterbury Cathedral on Easter Sunday.

The archbishop makes her plea as the war, launched by the US and Israel on Iran at the end of February, enters its sixth week.

The conflict has so far killed thousands and, outside of the region, consequences have included soaring fuel prices amid a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which is one of the world’s most important shipping routes.

Dame Sarah is expected to pray that “all people of the region receive the peace, justice and freedom they long for”.

She will tell the cathedral’s congregation: “This week our gaze and our prayers have been turned towards the land where Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead.

“Today, as we shout with joy that Christ is risen, let us pray and call with renewed urgency for an end to the violence and destruction in the Middle East and the Gulf.

“May our Christian sisters and brothers know and celebrate the hope of the empty tomb – and may all people of the region receive the peace, justice and freedom they long for.”

Dame Sarah is also expected to pray for people dealing with personal struggles, from unemployment to bereavement, telling them “God walks with you through that darkness”.

She will say: “Perhaps you are here today standing in your own version of the dark, perhaps with your own heart shattered… If you have been knocked off course by illness, bereavement, unemployment or any other human crisis – I pray you know that God walks with you through that darkness.”

Dame Sarah, a former chief nurse in England, will also give special mention to those caring for others in society.

She will say: “Last night, in hospitals around the country, nurses tended to those who struggled to sleep.

“In hospices, carers and loved ones will have held someone’s hand, letting them know they are not alone. Parents will have cradled their babies to sleep. This vigil of care is the work of remaining – of staying present in the quiet and the dark.”

While the King is technically head of the Church, Dame Sarah is the most senior bishop and the spiritual leader of the Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

She is the Church’s first female Archbishop of Canterbury and was enthroned at a ceremony attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales last month.

Meanwhile, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales spoke of a humanity “scarred by warfare”.

Delivering his first Easter sermon since becoming Archbishop of Westminster, Richard Moth said: “In our present times the world is so often confusing and conflicted, subject to ever-changing and often illusory demands and attractions.

“Humanity is marked, scarred, by warfare and injustice, often instigated by greed and misguided power, bringing harm and death to so many and so often the most vulnerable.”

Speaking at the Saturday vigil mass in Westminster Cathedral, he called on people to share the “irresistible light, this all-embracing love and peace of the Risen Lord across our communities and beyond, even to the ends of the Earth”.