(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121108-justin-welby-801a.photoblog600.jpg)Suzanne Plunkett / ReutersJustin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, walks through Westminster in London on Thursday. A former oil executive and critic of corporate excess, he is expected to be named on Friday as the next Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the world's 80 million Anglicans. By Alastair Jamieson, NBC NewsLONDON — A former oil executive whose father was a bootlegger in prohibition-era America and later a friend of the Kennedys, will on Friday be named the new spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, British media reports said.
Justin Welby, 56, the Bishop of Durham, who has risen quickly within the Church of England hierarchy since quitting the world of commerce in 1992, will be the next Archbishop of Canterbury, according to ITV News and U.K. newspaper reports.
The Church of England is known in the U.S. as the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America. Its Presiding Bishop is currently Katharine Jefferts Schori.
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