England nominates first female Archbishop of Canterbury in 1,400 years

The Church of England on Friday named Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to serve as ceremonial head of Anglican Christianity worldwide, prompting immediate criticism from conservative church leaders in Africa.

The 63-year-old bishop, who once served as England’s top nurse, will, like her predecessors, face a Communion divided between conservatives and more liberal Christians over the role of women in the Church and the acceptance of same-sex couples.

While the appointment was welcomed by many religious leaders in Britain, Laurent Mbanda, archbishop of Rwanda and chairman of a global grouping of conservative Anglican churches, told Reuters that Mullally would not unite the Communion. A bishop in Nigeria said the choice was “very dangerous” because women should follow men. The Church of England’s evangelical wing also called for a halt to what it described as a drift away from scripture.

Mullallay has championed liberal causes

Bishop of London since 2018, Mullally has previously supported blessings for same-sex couples, a major source of contention in the global Anglican Communion. Homosexuality remains outlawed in some African countries.

In an address at Canterbury Cathedral on Friday, she said she would seek to help every ministry flourish “whatever our tradition.” On same-sex relationships, she told Reuters in an interview that the Church of England and the broader Communion had long wrestled with difficult issues. “It may not be resolved quickly,” she added.

Mullally said she wanted the Church to confront the misuse of power after sexual abuse scandals and safeguarding failures, and she condemned rising antisemitism following an attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday that killed two men.

The Church of England, which broke from Roman Catholicism in the 16th century, has allowed women to be ordained as priests for more than 30 years and as bishops for more than a decade. Those reforms have been rejected by many churches in Africa and Asia that are part of the Communion but set their own rules.

“Christ is the head of the Church, man is the head of the family, and from creation God has never handed over the position of leadership to woman,” Nigeria’s Funkuro Godrules Victor Amgbare, Bishop of Northern Izon, told Reuters in Abuja.

The Vatican, which does not allow women to be ordained as priests, welcomed Mullally’s appointment in a statement, noting that the challenges facing the Anglican church were “considerable.”

Safeguarding improvements needed

Mullally will replace Justin Welby, who resigned over a child abuse cover-up scandal and who was criticised by some Anglicans for taking an activist role on social issues.

In her cathedral address, she spoke of the difficulties of an age that “craves certainty and tribalism” and a country wrestling with complex moral and political questions. She noted the “horrific violence” of the synagogue attack, saying it revealed “hatred that rises up through fractures across our communities.”

Mullally, who as a bishop already holds a seat in the British parliament’s House of Lords, is also an outspoken opponent of proposed legislation to allow assisted dying.

‘It’s all about people’

A former cancer nurse, Mullally worked as England’s Chief Nursing Officer in the early 2000s. She was ordained as a priest in 2002 and became one of the first women consecrated as a bishop in 2015.

The married mother of two adult children has often said there are similarities between nursing and ministry: “It’s all about people, and sitting with people during the most difficult times in their lives,” she once told a magazine.

Linda Woodhead, professor of theology at King’s College London, said the Church needed Mullally’s strong management skills. “Her emphasis on unity, gentleness and strength is exactly what the Church, and nation, needs right now,” she said.

Reflecting the Church’s role as England’s established faith, the appointment was announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office and formally assented to by King Charles, the Church’s supreme governor since Henry VIII broke with Rome nearly 500 years ago.

David Pestell, 74, who heads a tourist guide group in Canterbury, reflected on Mullally’s predecessors. “Some of them have been very good, some of them have been pretty bad,” he said. “Some of them have been very contentious, and some of them ended up murdered. I hope it doesn’t happen to this one. It’s delightful.”