ARCHBISHOP of Wales Dr Rowan Williams was yesterday named as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury - and was immediately at the centre of key controversial issues.

Dr Williams, Bishop of Monmouth, will take over as the leader of the Church of England, and 70 million Anglicans worldwide, when Dr George Carey steps down in October.

The 52-year-old father-of-two addressed a press conference at Church House in London moments after his official appointment by the Queen was announced by Downing Street. With his wife, Jane, at his side, Dr Williams said: "It is still something of a shock to find myself here, coming to terms with an enormous trust placed in my hands and with the inevitable sense of inadequacy that goes with that".

But even before yesterday's official announcement, Dr Williams was already embroiled in various heated debates - among them the potential war with Iraq, the commercial exploitation of children and gay rights.

He warned the government not to attack Saddam Hussain without United Nations clearance and criticised the global Disney Corporation for the intrusion of consumerism on childhoods.

But Dr Williams stressed: "I don't come to this task with a fixed programme or agenda. "I am a theologian by training and have been a teacher of theology for a lot of my ministry. Teachers of theology tend to have views on all sorts of things, and they have to engage with colleagues and students who hold very varied opinions. But no pastor or bishop holds a position in which their first task is to fight for the victory of their personal judgements as if those were final or infallible".

Dr Williams read part of his statement in Welsh and admitted that leaving Wales "is going to be very hard indeed.

"I have been privileged to be part of a really vigorous and supportive team - not only my dear fellow bishops but also the mission and administrative task of the Province. If they have taught me anything about being a bishop, I hope I can pass on that gift to those I shall be working with and for, in this new post.

"I am grateful that they, along with my colleagues and fellow Christians in the Monmouth diocese, have seen my possible move not as an abandonment but as a way of sharing more widely the life of a small Province.

"Recent experience in Wales as the new National Assembly has developed, and the Church's relation with government at every level has been worked at in new ways, has taught me a great deal about how the church engages with and serves the life of a whole national community."

Of the outgoing Archbishop, he added: "Archbishop Carey has set a very high standard in his selfless work for unity and understanding within the Anglican Communion. I shall have a fine example to follow as I learn how to approach this task."

Dr Williams spoke of his desire to take the Church forward and lose some of society's scepticism of Christianity but was soon back in the centre of more sensitive issues.

The Archbishop, who recently signed an open letter to the government expressing concern over any potential military strike on Iraq, said: "I would only support military action which the United Nations had called".

Dr Williams has also criticised the bombing of Afghanistan, condemned school league tables and admitted to being "slightly disappointed" with New Labour.

PICTURED: The Archbishop and his wife Jane in the garden of their Newport home.