Besides the Roman Catholic Church that elected a new leader in March with Argentinean Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio emerging as Pope Francis, another Christian religion just picked a new leader. Anglican bishops enthroned Archbishop Justin Welby as the Archbishop of Canterbury on March 21.

He replaced Dr. Rowan Williams who moved on to an academic post.

Ironically, both newly installed leaders of major Christian sects had other careers before they followed another path. Archbishop Welby, 57, used to be an oil executive and was ordained only in 1989. Pope Francis worked as a chemist and even has a master's degree in Chemistry.

However, one difference between them is the global attention that the papal conclave and inaugural mass attracted, while the Anglican church event was hardly noticed in the press, prompting one letter writer to The Washington Post to point out the differences in publicity generated.

"I was disappointed that The Post allotted only a small paragraph, sans photo, in the March 22 World Digest about the enthronement of the new Anglican leader. The archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader of 77 million people in the Anglican Communion. The ceremony was attended by royalty and heads of state, as well as by representatives of many world religions. The Post's attention to Pope Francis's installation was information and admirable. I only wish that Archbishop Justin Welby's ceremony had been reported in an equal way," wrote Sandra Hamilton of Amissville, Virginia.

Aware of the great responsibility he and other religious leaders carry, the archbishop, in his first Easter Sunday homily, warned on the prevailing hero leader culture in which society pins hopes on individuals to solve social problems. He said such a culture leads only to false hope.

"Human sin means pinning hopes on individuals is always a mistake, and assuming that any organisation is able to have such good systems that human failure will be eliminated is naïve," Bigpondnews quoted the archbishop.

This early, both leaders, especially Pope Francis, has set a high standard as he shunned trappings of the position such as living in the pope's palace or riding around in a limousine.

Hope is also high that both leaders would exert more efforts to give ecumenism more push.

Archbishop Welby has also shown his human side to indicate that he too has weaknesses and is not perfect. Daily Mail quoted the archbishop that he asked his wife Caroline to monitor his drinking to ensure he would not fall into the same vice as his father, an alcoholic, did.

Besides giving his wife authority to call his attention should his drinking go beyond limits, Archbishop Welby added he never drinks alone.

He disclosed that his father was a bootlegger in the United States before he migrated to Britain. His father's behaviour was often erratic and irrational, marked by dishonesty and shouting.

Indicating a more liberal attitude towards gays, the archbishop stressed that sex outside of marriage is wrong, but he has no sense of moral outrage over sexuality in any particular direction.

"I'm far too conscious of my own weaknesses to start hurling rocks at people ... My understanding of sexual ethics has been that, regardless of whether it's gay or straight, sex outside marriage is wrong. Now that gets me into all kinds of difficulty," he added.

But he believes the government's same-sex marriage plan being pushed by British Prime Minister David Cameron is a bad piece of legislation.

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