"The Government advice was about care for the community. We issued advice, not law, in the middle of a complicated process after the Prime Minister said places of worship would be closed. We were working with a fast-moving situation," he said.

The Church of England had needed to set an example to other faith communities in its response to the coronavirus outbreak, he said in answer to Clive Scowen (London), who wanted to know how the legal duty of clergy to say morning and evening prayer in church could be regarded as non-essential. "If all of these had chosen to enter [their buildings]," the Archbishop Welby said, "the cumulative effect would have been to undermine significantly the stay at home advice." The R number had been three at the time.

The decision had been briefed as made in order to save lives: had it done so, the Prolocutor, Canon Simon Butler, wondered. The Archbishop sighed visibly. "I hope so. We made the decision in the light of the best information we had at the time. Hindsight is a great gift. . . [None the less] We do stand by [that decision], and I would do nothing different in the light of the knowledge we had at the time."

Advice, he went on, in answer to Prudence Dailey (Oxford), was not the same as law. "We listened to medical advice, guidance, and each other. We probably made mistakes and will seek to learn from those as we conduct our review."

Ah, but how confusing was the status of policy as advice rather than instruction, given the use of the word "must", Charles Read (Norwich), asked? The letter issued on 24 March had reflected the tone of the Prime Minister's statement on 23 March. The word "must" had subsequently been removed, Archbishop Welby explained.

What had been the need to respond so quickly? Why not obtain legal advice first, wondered Debbie Buggs (London). The Archbishop replied: "Everyone was at the end of their tether, trying to work very, very rapidly. . . That was why we were not able to deal with the legal side. We were under enormous pressure."

When the Revd Wyn Beynon (Worcester) thanked the Archbishop for "guidance that has given us a way to act on behalf of the population", Archbishop Welby broke into laughter. "If this were not a virtual meeting, I would leap down from the podium and embrace you -- at a social distance, of course, and wearing a mask."

After remarking on those "depressing and slightly surprising questions", he expressed the fervent hope that the later session on the Church's response to Covid-19 would not be "all about us."