Dame Sarah Mullally has been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury designate, becoming the first woman in nearly 500 years to be chosen as the spiritual leader of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The 63-year-old, a former chief nursing officer for England, was ordained in 2006 and became the Church’s first female Bishop of London in 2018, the third most senior clerical post. She will formally take up her new role after her confirmation of election in January, followed by an enthronement service at Canterbury Cathedral.
In her first public remarks on Friday, she condemned the “horrific violence” of Thursday’s deadly synagogue attack in Manchester, pledging solidarity with Britain’s Jewish community. “Hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart,” she said.
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Her appointment comes after a turbulent year for the Church, which has been without a permanent Archbishop since Justin Welby resigned over a safeguarding scandal. A damning report found Welby failed to alert police in 2013 about prolific abuser John Smyth. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell has handled Welby’s duties in the interim but has also faced questions over his own record on safeguarding.
Mullally has promised to confront the Church’s legacy of abuse. “We must all be willing to have light shone on our actions, regardless of our role,” she said.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who formally passes the name to the King under tradition, welcomed the appointment, saying he looked forward to working with her. King Charles III congratulated her on taking up a role “of such importance in the UK and across the global Anglican Communion,” Buckingham Palace said.
While many hailed the historic moment, the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, a conservative bloc, criticised the decision, claiming “the majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy.”
Mullally, who is married with two children, spent 35 years in the NHS and became England’s youngest-ever chief nursing officer in 1999 before entering the priesthood. She has since been outspoken on key issues including assisted dying, which she opposes, and same-sex blessings, which she called “a moment of hope” when the Church approved them in 2023.
Speaking from Canterbury Cathedral, she reflected on the significance of her appointment: “Being the first woman is historic. I often go to schools and young women sit up and listen. They may not want to be Archbishop, but it helps them see the possibilities for their own lives.”
Former Archbishop Rowan Williams summed up the challenge ahead: “The expectation of having an opinion on everything is quite heavy. You need a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other.”
