The Church of England announced on Friday that Sarah Mullally, the bishop of London, will become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury, making her the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide and the first woman to lead a church whose roots date back more than 1,400 years.
Bishop Mullally will succeed Justin Welby, who resigned from the post last November after the publication of a report that said he had failed to pursue a proper investigation into claims of widespread abuse of boys and young men decades ago at Christian summer camps.
A former cancer nurse who served as the chief nursing officer for England, Bishop Mullally, 63, is a vocal exponent of the rights of women in the Church of England. She has served as the first female bishop of London since 2018.
The appointment of a female archbishop was not a complete surprise; the short list of candidates had featured two other female bishops. But it will thrust the church into a new era, potentially sowing tensions within the far-flung Anglican Communion, parts of which are more conservative than the Church of England.
Archbishop Welby’s resignation brought an abrupt end to an eventful tenure in which he had presided over momentous public ceremonies like the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III, and had become an impassioned public voice on contentious issues like immigration.
Though Archbishop Welby was not accused of any abuse himself, he was brought down by the same type of sex-abuse scandal that has toppled leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. He left behind a church tarnished by the scandal, but also deeply divided over whether it should recognize same-sex marriages, and struggling to fill its pews in an increasingly secular world.
Bishop Mullally will have to restore the church’s credibility on the safeguarding of young people and seek to repair rifts on marriage and other doctrinal issues. She will also face an unruly Anglican Communion, to which the Church of England belongs. Conservative bishops in Latin America, Asia and Africa have rejected the leadership of the archbishop of Canterbury, who traditionally functions as a first among equals.
Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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