Sarah Mullally becomes first woman archbishop of Canterbury
1 of 2 | Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally meets well-wishers after her installation in Canterbury Cathedral in Britain on Wednesday. The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop, leader of the Church of England, and ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Sarah Mullally is the 106th and first female Archbishop of Canterbury since the role was created in 597. Photo by Neil Hall/EPAMarch 25 (UPI) -- Sarah Elisabeth Mullally was installed Wednesday as the first woman to hold the title of archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. Mullally, 63, is the 106th person to hold the title of the most senior cleric in the Church of England and spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, which includes some 85 million Anglicans around the world. And she is the only one who isn't a man.
In her first sermon as archbishop, she honored victims of church abuse.
"We hold victims and survivors in our hearts and in our prayers, and we must remain committed to truth, compassion, justice and action," she said.
"In a world already torn by conflict, suffering and division, we must also acknowledge the hurt that exists much closer to home," she said. "We must not overlook or minimize the pain experienced by those who have been harmed through the actions, inactions or failures of those in our own Christian churches and communities."
About 2,000 invited guests attended the ceremonial installment, which is historically called an enthronement, including William, Prince of Wales, and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was also there. Also in the congregation was a contingent of nurses and caregivers from Canterbury to honor Mullally's former career as a nurse.
While Mullally has served in the position since January, the Wednesday's ceremony marks the symbolic beginning of her service as the archbishop. She was named to the position in October.
She replaced the former archbishop Justin Welby, who resigned in January 2025 over his handling of a sex abuse scandal in the diocese.
A Christian camp organizer, the late John Smyth, had allegedly abused boys at the camp in the 1970s and '80s. A report found that Smyth might have faced charges while he was alive if Welby had reported the abuse when he learned about it in 2013. Smyth died in 2018.
The first archbishop of Canterbury -- St. Augustine -- was enthroned in 587. The Church of England officially allowed women to become priests in 1994.
"As I look back over my life at the teenage Sarah, who put her faith in God and made a commitment to follow Jesus, I could never have imagined the future that lay ahead, and certainly not the ministry to which I am now called," she told the congregation.
Her enthronement is not welcomed by all in the Anglican Communion. Many traditionalists in Britain and abroad still believe that only men can be priests.
Earlier this month in Abuja, Nigeria, conservative clergy selected their own leader to follow, Rwandan Archbishop Laurent Mbanda.
Mbanda issued a statement in January in which he said the "majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy."
In the days before the service, Mullally walked an 87-mile pilgrimage for six days from London's St. Paul's Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral. She is the first archbishop in modern times to make the trip, which was memorialized in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
Ahead of the ceremony, the Very Rev. David Monteith, dean of the Canterbury Cathedral, said, "Today matters."
Monteith described Mullally as a person of "really deep and profound faith," as demonstrated by her giving up her nursing career, he told The New York Times.
"That's a big, risky thing to do, and it's born of somebody who had a lively sense of faith and connection with God, sufficient for her to hear a call to turn in a different direction and follow another path," he said. "And I think that speaks well to me of somebody of integrity and of depth as well."
Mullally, 63, is the 106th person to hold the title of the most senior cleric in the Church of England and spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, which includes some 85 million Anglicans around the world. And she is the only one who isn't a man.
In her first sermon as archbishop, she honored victims of church abuse.
"We hold victims and survivors in our hearts and in our prayers, and we must remain committed to truth, compassion, justice and action," she said.
"In a world already torn by conflict, suffering and division, we must also acknowledge the hurt that exists much closer to home," she said. "We must not overlook or minimize the pain experienced by those who have been harmed through the actions, inactions or failures of those in our own Christian churches and communities."
About 2,000 invited guests attended the ceremonial installment, which is historically called an enthronement, including William, Prince of Wales, and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was also there. Also in the congregation was a contingent of nurses and caregivers from Canterbury to honor Mullally's former career as a nurse.
While Mullally has served in the position since January, the Wednesday's ceremony marks the symbolic beginning of her service as the archbishop. She was named to the position in October.
She replaced the former archbishop Justin Welby, who resigned in January 2025 over his handling of a sex abuse scandal in the diocese.
A Christian camp organizer, the late John Smyth, had allegedly abused boys at the camp in the 1970s and '80s. A report found that Smyth might have faced charges while he was alive if Welby had reported the abuse when he learned about it in 2013. Smyth died in 2018.
The first archbishop of Canterbury -- St. Augustine -- was enthroned in 587. The Church of England officially allowed women to become priests in 1994.
"As I look back over my life at the teenage Sarah, who put her faith in God and made a commitment to follow Jesus, I could never have imagined the future that lay ahead, and certainly not the ministry to which I am now called," she told the congregation.
Her enthronement is not welcomed by all in the Anglican Communion. Many traditionalists in Britain and abroad still believe that only men can be priests.
Earlier this month in Abuja, Nigeria, conservative clergy selected their own leader to follow, Rwandan Archbishop Laurent Mbanda.
Mbanda issued a statement in January in which he said the "majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy."
In the days before the service, Mullally walked an 87-mile pilgrimage for six days from London's St. Paul's Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral. She is the first archbishop in modern times to make the trip, which was memorialized in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
Ahead of the ceremony, the Very Rev. David Monteith, dean of the Canterbury Cathedral, said, "Today matters."
Monteith described Mullally as a person of "really deep and profound faith," as demonstrated by her giving up her nursing career, he told The New York Times.
"That's a big, risky thing to do, and it's born of somebody who had a lively sense of faith and connection with God, sufficient for her to hear a call to turn in a different direction and follow another path," he said. "And I think that speaks well to me of somebody of integrity and of depth as well."
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