Sarah Mullally, a onetime nurse who became the first female Anglican bishop of London, was named on Friday as the 106th archbishop of Canterbury, making her the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide and the first woman to occupy a history-laden post, established more than 1,400 years ago. A former cancer nurse who served as a health administrator and the chief nursing officer for England, Archbishop-designate Mullally, 63, is a vocal exponent of the rights and role of women in the Church of England. She has been the bishop of London since 2018, having been ordained as a priest in 2002. The rumored short list of candidates had included two other female bishops. But the naming of Archbishop-designate Mullally thrusts the church into a new era, potentially sowing tensions within the far-flung Anglican Communion, to which the Church of England, as well as the Episcopal Church in the United States, belong.

Source: The Times October 03, 2025 11:25 UTC