Welcome vs Welcomed

‘… the English-language China Daily said the apology was welcomed despite its lateness’ (Straits Times, 25 September 2007).

Make it welcome, because it is an adjective; welcomed can only be a verb. This contrast is more clearly illustrated in the following examples:

(i) Sanjay welcomed the visitors. (verb; active voice)
(ii) The visitors were welcomed by Sanjay. (verb; passive voice)
(iii) The visitors felt very welcome. (adjective)

One test to use if you can’t decide whether a word is an adjective or verb is to place very before it: if this is possible, the word is an adjective. Otherwise it is a verb, for verbs cannot be intensified with very. Hence:

(i) *Sanjay very welcomed the visitors. (verb)
(ii) *The visitors were very welcomed by Sanjay. (verb)
(iii) The visitors felt very welcome. (adjective)

(Note that * denotes an ungrammatical sentence.)