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Sarah Mullally becomes first female archbishop of the Church of England
2026-03-26 11:15:35 / BOTA
The first woman to lead the Church of England has been officially appointed in a ceremony attended by around 2,000 guests.
Sarah Mullally has been officially confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury, marking the start of her public role as the first woman to lead the Church of England.
The former nurse took her place in the historic 13th-century St Augustine's Chair at Canterbury Cathedral, in front of a large audience that included Prince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, along with other religious leaders.
She will serve as spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, which has about 85 million members. The Church of England began ordaining women as priests in 1994 and appointed its first female bishop in 2015.
Although Mullally officially took office in January, Wednesday's ceremony had symbolic significance, as it marked the public beginning of her ministry.
"On this day, as I begin my ministry as Archbishop of Canterbury, I say to God again: 'Here I am,'" she said during her first sermon.
Wearing the golden mitre, she prayed for peace in conflict-affected areas, including the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar.
The 63-year-old also acknowledged the church's past failures to protect believers, stressing the need for a commitment to truth, compassion and justice. Her predecessor, Justin Welby, resigned in 2024 after a scandal involving the cover-up of child abuse.
The ceremony began with a symbolic ritual, with Mullally knocking on the west door of the cathedral. She wore a special glove, a reminder of her former work as a nurse in the British National Health Service. During the service, prayers and readings were held in several languages, including Urdu.
Another important symbol was the ring she wore, which had once been given to Michael Ramsey by Pope Paul VI in 1966, as a sign of improved relations between Anglicans and Catholics, centuries after the separation of the Roman Catholic Church by King Henry VIII.
The day of the ceremony coincided with the Feast of the Annunciation, an important Christian holiday that commemorates the moment when an angel announced the birth of Jesus to Mary.
Philip Mounstephen, who blessed her during the ceremony, described this moment as historic, emphasizing that a woman was taking the helm of a very ancient institution, even older than the British monarchy itself.
A church between unity and division
Mullally's appointment has not been without controversy. The Anglican Global Future Conference, a conservative group that includes churches mainly in Africa and Asia, has criticized the decision, particularly because of its opposition to women's leadership and LGBTQ+ issues.
However, this group has abandoned plans to create a rival figure to Canterbury and has decided to form a new council for cooperation.
On the other hand, the Anglican Consultative Council abandoned a proposal for rotation in leadership, which could weaken the traditional role of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Tensions between progressive and conservative wings are present throughout the Christian world. Unlike the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury has a more symbolic role and relies on moral influence, not direct authority.
Mullally himself has stressed the importance of unity in diversity, saying that the Anglican Communion is "a family with common roots, but with great diversity within it."
The Church of England broke away from Rome about 500 years ago, and since then the Archbishop of Canterbury has been the main symbolic figure of the Anglican Communion, which has spread around the world, especially in countries that were once part of the British Empire.
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