Sarah Mullally enthroned as first female archbishop of Canterbury

The former nurse on Wednesday took her seat on the 13th-century Chair of St Augustine at Canterbury Cathedral before 2,000 guests that included heir to the British throne Prince William and his wife Catherine, as well as Prime Minister Keir Starmer and religious leaders.

She will serve as the spiritual head of the global Anglican Communion, which has about 85 million members worldwide. The Church of England ordained its first female priests in 1994 and its first female bishop in 2015.

Although she legally took up the role in January, Wednesday’s installation marked the symbolic start of her ministry.

“As I begin my ministry today as archbishop of Canterbury, I say again to God: ‘Here I am’,” she told the congregation as she delivered her inaugural sermon.

Wearing a golden mitre, Mullally prayed for “peace to prevail” in war-ravaged regions of the world, including parts of the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar.

The 63-year-old acknowledged the sufferings caused by the church’s past safeguarding failures, one of which caused her predecessor Justin Welby to resign, stressing the need to “remain committed to truth, compassion, justice and action”. Welby stepped down in 2024 following a child abuse cover-up scandal.

At the start of the ceremony, Mullally knocked on the cathedral’s west door, wearing a cope secured by a clasp modelled on the belt she wore as a National Health Service nurse. She was then greeted by children, as prayers and readings in multiple languages, including Urdu, rang through the cathedral during the service.

Mullally also wore a ring given to one of her predecessors, Michael Ramsey, by Pope Paul VI in 1966, a symbol of improving ties between Anglicans and Catholics, centuries after King Henry VIII split from the Roman Catholic Church.

Wednesday marks the Feast of the Annunciation – a celebration of the biblical account of an angel telling Mary she would be the mother of Jesus – and this was the major theme of the service.

“It does signal a huge change that has taken place in the life of the Church,” Mounstephen said.

While Mullally’s appointment in October drew sharp criticism from the conservative Global Anglican Future Conference, made up largely of churches in Africa and Asia that oppose moves towards same-sex blessings and women’s leadership, the bloc this month abandoned earlier plans to appoint a parallel figurehead to rival Canterbury, opting instead to establish a new council.

The body, which will include bishops, clergy and lay members with voting rights, brings together provinces that have distanced themselves from Canterbury.

The Anglican Consultative Council, a global representative body, also dropped a proposal for a rotating presidency, a move that would have reduced Canterbury’s traditional leadership role, after concerns it could create a rival centre of authority.

Tensions between progressive and conservative Christians are not unique to Anglicanism, but the archbishop’s role is largely symbolic and relies on persuasion, unlike the pope, who exercises clear authority over Catholics worldwide.

Recent archbishops have struggled to bridge deep divisions over LGBTQ issues and women’s leadership between the increasingly progressive Church of England and more traditional provinces elsewhere.

The Church of England broke from Rome nearly 500 years ago. Since then, the archbishop of Canterbury has been the symbolic head of the Anglican Communion, which has expanded worldwide through missionary activity, particularly in countries that were once part of the British Empire.