Dame Sarah Mullally has been named as the first female leader in the history of the Church of England as Downing Street announced the 106th archbishop of Canterbury nearly a year on from Justin Welby’s resignation over the handling of a safeguarding scandal.
A former chief nursing officer for England, Mullally, 63, the Bishop of London, is now archbishop of Canterbury-designate. She will legally become the archbishop at a ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral in January, followed by a formal enthronement service at a later date where members of the royal family are likely to be present.
The appointment of a woman as the archbishop of Canterbury had been widely anticipated as this was the first time the role has been chosen since the Church of England allowed women to become bishops in 2014.
In her first address at Canterbury Cathedral, Mullally acknowledged her new role would be “complex and challenging”. There would be “much talk” about this as “a historic moment – a joyous one for many”, she said. She shared in that joy “not for myself, but for a Church that listens to the calling of God and says: ‘Yes, we will follow you.’”
Some would ask what it means for a woman to lead the Church of England, she added, saying: “I intend to be a shepherd, who enables everyone’s ministry and vocation to flourish – whatever the tradition.” She thanked “all the men and women, lay and ordained deacons, priests and bishops who have paved the way for this moment, and to all the women that have gone before me.”
She pledged to confront the safeguarding failures that led her predecessor to step down. The church had “too often failed to take seriously the misuse of power in all its forms”. She would to “listen to survivors and the vulnerable”.
“Our history of safeguarding failures have left a legacy of deep harm and mistrust, and we must all be willing to have light shone on our actions, regardless of our role in the Church,” she said.
Of the “horrific violence” of Thursday’s attack on a synagogue in Manchester, she said: “We are witnessing hatred that rises up through fractures across our communities.” The church had “a responsibility to be a people who stand with the Jewish community against antisemitism in all its forms. Hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart.”
Britain was “wrestling with complex moral and political questions”, she added. “The legal right of terminally ill people to end their own lives, our response to people fleeing war and persecution to seek safety and refuge, the pressures on communities who have been overlooked and undervalued, the deep-rooted question of who we are as a nation, in a world that so often seems on the brink.”
Mullally’s name was passed to Downing Street by the Crown Nominations Commission, chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, a former director general of MI5, after months of deliberation by the 20-member panel, of which 17 are voting members and 12 must agree. After agreement, a name by tradition is given to the prime minister – in this case Keir Starmer – and then passed to the monarch.
Welcoming her appointment, Starmer said the Church of England was of “profound importance to this country”. The archbishop would “ play a key role in our national life”.
Buckingham Palace said: “His Majesty congratulates Bishop Sarah on her appointment as archbishop-designate, a role which is of such importance in the UK and across the global Anglican Communion.”
The appointment of a woman will be seen as a defining moment. For many liberal members of the church it will serve as an important acknowledgment of just how far women have come within the institution. The first female bishop was consecrated in 2015. But it will probably anger more conservative wings of the institution, which also represents Anglican churches outside the UK.
Before being ordained Mullally, who is from Woking, worked as a cancer nurse in the NHS, and became the government’s chief nursing officer for England, aged 37. She was made a dame in recognition of her outstanding contribution to nursing. She is married to Eamonn Mullally and they have two grown-up children, Liam and Grace.
She takes on the role as the Church of England tries to tackle key issues, including that of same-sex marriage, declining church attendance, restoring trust after abuse scandals as well has how to respond to Christian nationalism on the far right.
The global role played the archbishop as head of 85 million Anglicans worldwide means previous holders of the position have walked a tightrope between conservative churches in African nations, where homosexuality is outlawed in some places, and more liberal voices in the west.
The campaign group for equality for women in the Church of England, Watch, has said it would welcome the announcement of the first female archbishop of Canterbury, and hoped it would lead to further equality for women in the church. It claimed there were still eight bishops who would not receive communion from the new archbishop as it published a list of 587 churches on its website that it claims limit women in the church.
