A job description for the next archbishop of Canterbury has stated the chosen person must be someone of the “utmost integrity”, able to speak on the issues affecting the society’s most vulnerable, and could be a woman for the first time in the role’s history.
The Church of England post has been vacant since January when Justin Welby formally left office having announced his resignation the previous November amid safeguarding failures surrounding a Christian camp leader who had been a serial abuser.
In a so-called statement of needs, published this week, the Diocese of Canterbury set out a lengthy list of requirements the chosen candidate should have.
While, technically, the King is head of the Church of England, the person holding the role of archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior bishop and is the spiritual leader of the Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) – the body charged with nominating the new archbishop – held the first of three planned private meetings last month.
It is expected there could be an announcement on a nomination for the 106th archbishop of Canterbury by autumn – a year after Mr Welby announced he was standing down.
He said on November 12 2024 that he was to quit following failures in handling a Church abuse scandal involving barrister and religious camp leader John Smyth – thought to be the most prolific abuser associated with the Church.
More than 11,000 people took part in February and March in a public consultation for the next archbishop of Canterbury – aimed at giving people the chance to influence the future of leadership within the Church, by submitting both names and the qualities they think are required.
The Canterbury diocese said the statement of needs incorporates views from the public consultation “as well as explaining what life in our diocese is like for those who live, work and worship here”.
Among the requirements are a person with “theological depth” who is a good communicator with people of different ages and backgrounds, someone of “the utmost integrity who is able to speak honestly” about failures and injustices in the Church, and a “servant leader, who shows compassion towards the disadvantaged and marginalised”.
They must also be “unapologetic about offering a Christian perspective to local, national and international dialogue”, the statement says.
Issues such as same-sex marriage and women’s roles in the Church are also referenced.
The chosen person must be someone who is happy to ordain and consecrate women and men and “will unequivocally affirm and support the ministry of both, and may themselves be male or female”.
While women have been ordained in the Church of England for a number of years, there has never been a female in the top role.
The chosen person must also have “worked and will continue to work constructively” around ongoing discussions around blessings services for same-sex couples, and “embrace” both those who support and others who oppose same-sex marriage in the Church.
On what has been a divisive and difficult debate in the Church, the person “will recognise with honesty the complexity of the current situation and the strongly held, but different, convictions present in the diocese as in the Church of England more widely”.
Rather than applying, it is usual that candidates are “invited in” to the process.
Historically, candidates have been people who already have senior leadership roles in ministry in the Church or elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.
They must be at least 30 years old, and generally younger than 70.
Chairman of the Vacancy in See Committee, the Venerable Dr Will Adam, said: “The (consultation) responses gathered have helped us put together a Statement of Needs that captures the opportunities and challenges in our diverse corner of the country, reflecting the coastal, urban and rural communities and the church in all its variety in this diocese.
“The document will be enormously helpful to the Crown Nominations Commission and to candidates as we continue to discern who God is calling to be our next Archbishop.”
