Dame Sarah Mullally will be the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England’s history.
Dame Sarah, a former chief nursing officer for England, is now Archbishop of Canterbury-designate, before a legal ceremony in January confirms her as the top bishop.
She’s becomes the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury almost a year after Justin Welby announced he would step down over failures in handling an abuse scandal. The position has since been vacant.
In the interim, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell took on most of the responsibilities, and was one of the voting members of the body charged with selecting the new archbishop.
Dame Sarah had already broken a glass ceiling, becoming the first female Bishop of London in 2018.
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In her first visit appointment as archbishop-designate, she visited a local church this morning and helped pack food parcels.
Before her historic position was announced, the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC), chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale (a former director-general of the MI5 security service), had to agree by a two-thirds majority vote.
The name of the proposed candidate was then given to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – in line with tradition – before being passed to the King.
The King is technically the head of the Church of England, but the Archbishop of Canterbury is seen as the spiritual leader of the church and the worldwide Anglican Communion and is the most senior bishop.
A job description published by the The Diocese of Canterbury earlier this year said the new archbishop should be 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’, it added.
Dame Sarah has been outspoken in her opposition to the assisted dying Bill, which is currently being considered in Westminster’s Parliament.
As a member of the House of Lords she will have a vote on the Bill, and has previously said: ‘We must oppose a law that puts the vulnerable at risk and instead work to improve funding and access to desperately needed palliative care services.’
Mr Welby announced he would step down in November last year, after an independent review found that barrister and Christian camp leader John Smyth – the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church – might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police in 2013.
Mr Welby, who had faced days of pressure to resign after the review was made public, said he was quitting ‘in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse’.
While archbishop, he had spoken several times on the issues of poverty, and urged the government to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
He had also criticised the Conservative government’s scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
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