Dame Sarah Mullally, 63, has been appointed the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England’s nearly 500-year history.
The Church of England announced her appointment on Friday, nearly a year after Justin Welby’s resignation from the role. The appointment marks the first time in nearly five centuries that a woman has been nominated to a senior position in the Church.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer wished her “every success”, while His Majesty also congratulated Mullally on her new role.
In her first speech on Friday, Mullally addressed the deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester, saying “hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart”, and standing with the Jewish community against antisemitism.
She next acknowledged the recent safeguarding issues and reports within the Church of England, pledging to listen to survivors, quoting: “As a Church, we have often failed to take seriously the misuse of power in all its forms.”
She added, “This will not be easy. We must all be willing to have lights shone on our actions, regardless of our role within the Church.”
Mullally also spoke of extending her hope to “all the peoples of the Middle East”, mentioning “our Palestinian brothers and sisters”, alongside those in Ukraine, Russia and others living in warzones. She previously described the 2023 decision to allow priests to bless same-sex marriages as “a moment of hope for the Church.”
When asked what it means for a woman to lead the Church of England, she responded with the following:
“I intend to be a shepherd who enables everyone’s ministry and vocation to flourish, whatever the tradition. The role that I take on next year is one that can only be done together.”
Prior to her recent appointment, she had been Bishop of London since 2018 and a priest since 2006. A self-described feminist and married with two children, she spent 35 years in the NHS as a nurse before her rise in priesthood, having held a clinical nursing post at St Thomas’ Hospital early in her career.
Mullally is a King’s College London alumna, having trained at the Nightingale School of Nursing, now part of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care. She is also an independent member of the King’s College Council.
During Mullally’s appointment as Bishop of London a few years prior, the Reverend Canon Professor Richard Burridge, Dean of King’s College London, shared the following:
“I am delighted about her appointment. I have known her over many years, not least when she was Canon Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral (where I am also Canon Theologian). I was thrilled when she was appointed to Crediton as one of our first women bishops.”
Mullally rose to become the UK’s youngest Chief Nursing Officer in 1999 and was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2005 for her contribution to nursing and midwifery.
Read Bishop Sarah’s address in full here.
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