Sarah Mullally is named as first female archbishop of Canterbury

Dame Sarah Mullally, a former nurse, 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, a mother of two and 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.

She will today give an address in Canterbury Cathedral – 10 years after she was consecrated there as Bishop of Crediton.

Keir Starmer welcomed her appointment, noting that she is “the first woman to hold the role”.

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.

Mullally, who was born in Woking and became a Christian at age 16, said: “As I respond to the call of Christ to this new ministry, I do so in the same spirit of service to God and to others that has motivated me since I first came to faith as a teenager.

“At every stage of that journey, through my nursing career and Christian ministry, I have learned to listen deeply – to people and to God’s gentle prompting – to seek to bring people together to find hope and healing.

She added of her appointment: “I know this is a huge responsibility but I approach it with a sense of peace and trust in God to carry me as He always has.”

She has previously been outspoken in her opposition to the assisted dying bill.

The archbishop is regarded as the spiritual leader of the Anglican church all over the world and they also have a seat in the House of Lords.

Her name was passed to Downing Street by the Crown Nominations Commission after months of deliberation by the 20-member panel, of which 17 are voting members and 12 must agree. After agreement, in line with tradition, the process involves a name being given to the prime minister – in this case Keir Starmer – and then passed to the monarch.

For the first time, the commission, chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, a former director-general of MI5, had five representatives from the global Anglican church.

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 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.

Mullally takes on the role as head 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 the archbishop as head of 85 million Anglicans world wide 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 ever 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 which it claims limit women in the church.

A recent poll suggested almost three-quarters (74%) of people do not care who was appointed the new archbishop of Canterbury. The Ipsos polling of 1,100 British people also found that out of the 505 who identified as Christian, not necessarily only those from a Church of England background, 62% felt this way. The poll showed 28% of respondents said they wanted the new archbishop to talk less about political topics, while 17% thought they should speak out more.