Sarah Mullally makes history as first female Archbishop of Canterbury
By CNN, October 3, 2025Sarah Mullally was appointed on Friday, October 3, 2025, as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, becoming the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide and the first woman to hold the role in its 1,400-year history.
Mullally, 63, was made Bishop of London in 2018 – the Church of England’s third most senior bishop after the archbishops of Canterbury and York. Before her ordination, Mullally worked as a nurse at hospitals in London, going on to serve as Chief Nursing Officer for England.
“As I respond to the call of Christ to this new ministry, I do so in the same spirit of service to God and to others that has motivated me since I first came to faith as a teenager,” Mullally said.
“At every stage of that journey, through my nursing career and Christian ministry, I have learned to listen deeply – to people and to God’s gentle prompting – to seek to bring people together to find hope and healing.”
Mullally will preside over an institution struggling to stay relevant in a more secular nation, attempting to bridge divides between its more conservative and liberal wings, and fighting to reclaim trust after a child abuse cover-up scandal.
Justin Welby, the former archbishop, resigned in 2024 over his failure to report John Smyth, who was accused of physically and sexually abusing dozens of boys, including those he met at Christian camps, in the 1970s and 1980s.
A damning independent report found that by 2013 the Church of England “knew, at the highest level,” about Smyth’s abuse, including Welby, who became archbishop that year.
Welby’s resignation, according to church historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, was “historic and without exact precedent in the 1,427-year history of Archbishops of Canterbury” given no previous archbishop had stepped down to accusations of negligence over sexual abuse.
“Our history of safeguarding failures has left the legacy of deep harm and mistrust,” Mullally said Friday, after her appointment. “As archbishop, my commitment will be to ensure that we continue to listen to survivors, care for the vulnerable, and foster a culture of safety and wellbeing for all.”
Mullally’s elevation to archbishop was only possible due to reforms under Welby, who allowed women to be consecrated as bishops a decade ago. But while the vastly experienced Mullally is viewed by church insiders as a safe pair of hands in testing times, the appointment of a woman has rankled the institution’s more conservative faction.
“Today’s appointment makes it clearer than ever before that Canterbury has relinquished its authority to lead,” said GAFCON, a grouping of Anglican churches across Africa and Asia, regions where congregations have grown in recent years.
For years, Mullally led the church’s process of exploring questions of marriage and sexuality, and was supportive of the move to allow ministers to offer blessings to gay couples in churches. She is renowned as a strong administrator who has worked to modernize the running of her London diocese while playing a leading role in the church’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most public face of an institution that has struggled to stay relevant in a more secular nation. The archbishop is often called on to speak at significant national moments, presiding over major royal events, including the recent coronation of King Charles.