Since August 2020, Hancock has been on leave while undergoing treatment for cancer.[16] It was announced in March 2021 that he was recovering from leukaemia but would be taking retirement on medical grounds; a farewell service was held on 22 May 2021.[15] He retired to Surrey.[3]
Personal life
Hancock married in 1979,[17][18] and he and his wife have four adult children.[18]
In his first interview after being installed as the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Hancock said about same-sex marriage on Radio Bristol: "I think marriage is a gift from God. It's a means of grace and his way of blessing us. I believe this was set aside for a man and a woman."[1] In an article in the Bath Chronicle, he said "We will therefore need to think, pray and consider very deeply what it might mean to share the gospel across the diocese, what it might mean to foster spiritual and numerical growth in Church and community, and how we can so order our life as a diocese to enable the Church to grow and flourish in new ways."[19]