The Church of England is set to name its new Archbishop of Canterbury on Friday, with significant anticipation surrounding the possible appointment of the first woman to the role.
The top position has remained vacant for almost a year, following Justin Welby’s resignation over a safeguarding scandal.
A member of the General Synod has said that the failure to appoint a woman would represent a “missed opportunity”.
While no official shortlist of candidates was published, the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Rev Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, is widely considered to be one of the favourites to take up the role. She fled Iran with her family as a teenager in the wake of the Iranian Revolution in 1980, and has previously discussed her own story and how she has “a sense of the real trauma that many asylum seekers have experienced”.
Others tipped for the role include the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, who made history in 2015 by becoming the first female diocesan bishop and the first female bishop in the House of Lords.
The Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, a former chief nursing officer for England, has also been mentioned as a possibility.
Men thought to be in the running include the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Michael Beasley. He is a former epidemiologist and was a member of the Church’s Covid-19 task force during the pandemic.
The Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Dr Pete Wilcox, who describes himself online as a “sports fan & Newcastle Utd nut”, has also been mentioned in reports.
Women were first ordained priests in the Church in 1994, while the first female bishop appointment followed 20 years later, in 2014.
Speaking ahead of Friday’s announcement, Professor Helen King, an elected lay member of the Church of England General Synod, otherwise known as the Church’s parliament, said she is hopeful that a female will be appointed.
She said: “It’s been 10 years since we’ve had women bishops, and that means we’ve got women who have the experience to be archbishop. So I think it would be a missed opportunity, but the Church of England is perfectly capable of missing opportunities.
“I wouldn’t be surprised [if it’s not a woman], but I hope very much it is.”
Andrew Graystone, a longtime advocate for survivors of Church abuse and victims of safeguarding failures, said it would be a “historic moment for the Church, and a huge opportunity” if a woman were appointed to the role.
He warned that whoever is chosen has a challenging road ahead of them.
He said: “The new archbishop will be faced with declining church attendance, bloated management structures, and clergy squabbling over what people do in the bedroom. But the biggest challenge for the new archbishop is to restore trust after a decade of abuse scandals.”
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby formally stood down in January over failures in handling an abuse scandal, having announced his intention to resign two months earlier, in November 2024.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell has taken on most of the responsibilities in the interim, and was one of the voting members of the body charged with choosing Mr Welby’s successor.
The Crown Nominations Commission, chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, a former director general of MI5, had to agree to the new appointment by a two-thirds majority vote. Following agreement, the process involves a name being given to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and then passed to the monarch.
While the King is technically the head of the Church of England, the person holding the role of Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior bishop, and is considered the spiritual leader of the Church and of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The next archbishop will not formally take on the role until a confirmation of election in January, while their enthronement service will come later, after they have paid homage to the King.
