Sarah Mullally, First Woman to Lead the Anglican Church of England

The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury on Friday, becoming the Church of England’s highest religious leader and spiritual leader of Anglicans, a first for a woman.

A former nurse turned archbishop

Sarah Mullally, 63, a former nurse and mother of two, replaces Justin Welby, who was forced to resign at the end of 2024, after being blamed for his handling of a physical and sexual assault scandal. In a speech delivered in Canterbury Cathedral (southeast England) after her appointment, the first head of the Anglican Church of England pledged to “foster a culture of safety and well-being for all”. “As a Church, we have too often failed to recognize or take seriously abuses of power in all their forms”, she said.

The resignation of her predecessor had plunged the Church of England into turmoil, and many voices had been raised to call for reforms within the institution. Justin Welby announced his departure in November 2024 following a damning report, which accused him of having covered up for years a scandal of physical and sexual assault against 130 boys and young men by a lawyer linked to the religious institution.

This lawyer, John Smyth, died in South Africa in 2018 without being prosecuted. Sarah Mullally also stressed that the Church of England had the “responsibility” to be “alongside the Jewish community to fight anti-Semitism in all its forms”, the day after an attack on a synagogue in Manchester which left two dead, one of the worst anti-Semitic attacks in the country.

Modern “A Shepherdess”

The first woman to lead the Church of England, she described her role as that of “a shepherdess”. “Today, I give thanks to all the men and women, lay and ordained, deacons, priests and bishops, who paved the way at this time, as well as to all the women who came before me: thank you for your support and inspiration”, said this blonde woman, who has worked for more than 35 years in the healthcare sector.

Sarah Mullally was ordained a priest in 2002. She became the first female bishop of London in 2018. The Church of England began allowing women to become bishops in 2014, after heated internal debates. More than 40 of England’s 108 bishops are now women. The proportion is similar among priests, a priesthood that women have been able to exercise since the early 1990s.

A key role between royalty and religious traditions

Her appointment, by a college of Anglican and non-member electors, was approved by King Charles III, supreme governor of the Church of England. Since Justin Welby’s departure in January, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has taken over in the interim.

The Archbishop of Canterbury officiates in particular at major royal events, such as coronations, weddings and funerals. The Church of England, which is losing momentum, has around twenty million baptized faithful, but estimates its regular practitioners at just under a million, according to statistics for the year 2022.

The Anglican religion arose in England in the 16th century from a split with the Catholic Church due to a disagreement between the King of England and the Pope. It aims to be halfway between Catholicism and Protestantism. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church ordains women and allows priests to marry.