Bishop Discloses Terminal Diagnosis

Published on: 21 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 22 Feb, 2026

Andrew Watson, Bishop of Guildford.

The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Rev’d Andrew Watson, has announced that he has been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer and is now in the care of a hospice team.

He said his oncologist had told him that his tumour was particularly aggressive and hard to manage, and chemotherapy was likely to do more harm than good.

In a letter to the diocese, he wrote that he plucked up the courage to ask how long he might have to live and the “sobering answer” was: “You’d be doing well if you were still alive in a month’s time.”

The Bishop, who is 64, has been married for 40 years to Beverley and has four children.

He has signed a deed of delegation handing responsibility for the diocese to the Bishop of Dorking, the Rt Rev’d Paul Davies.

A Day of Prayer for Bishop Watson at Guildford Cathedral has been organised for Monday, February 23.

Visitors are being invited to attend at any time between midday and 10pm to pray or light a candle.

In his letter to the diocese, the Bishop wrote: “I don’t fear the prospect of dying and find to my relief that my faith in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting has only grown stronger over the past few weeks.”

The Bishop said his main focus was on “cheerfully persisting towards a good death”.

He said he had “grumpy patches” but considered himself deeply blessed to have been born into a loving family, to have been “joyfully married” for 40 years and raised four remarkable children, and to have had such a fulfilling ministry in the Church of England.