On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, Sarah Mullally made history as she was formally enthroned as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to hold the position in the church's 1,500-year history. The ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral in southeast England drew around 2,000 attendees, including Prince William and his wife Catherine, representing the British monarchy, which serves as the supreme governor of the Church of England.
Mullally, 63, began the service by knocking three times on the cathedral's west door with a staff, requesting admission in line with tradition. Dressed in deep yellow-gold robes, she was greeted by local schoolchildren who asked why she had been sent. “I am sent as archbishop to serve you, to proclaim the love of Christ and with you to worship and love him with heart and soul, mind and strength,” she responded.
A Historic Path from Nursing to the Church
Before her ordination, Mullally spent over three decades in the UK's state-run National Health Service, rising to become its chief nursing officer for England in 1999. She was ordained a priest in 2002 and became the first female Bishop of London in 2018, just four years after the Church of England allowed women bishops following years of internal debate.
Her appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury comes at a time of significant change for the Anglican Communion, which includes 85 million members worldwide. While some provinces, such as the Episcopal Church in the United States, have had women bishops since 1989, others remain opposed. The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, Laurent Mbanda, has previously stated that the “majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy.”
Mullally succeeds Justin Welby, who resigned in November 2024 after a report found the Church of England had covered up a serial abuse case from the 1970s and that he failed to report the abuses to authorities when they came to his attention in 2013. In her BBC interview this week, Mullally stressed her commitment to “do all I can to ensure that the Church becomes safer and also responds well to victims and survivors of abuse.” She added that the church is “seeking to become more trauma informed, listening to survivors and victims of abuse.”
The ceremony culminated with Mullally being seated in two thrones, symbolizing her dual responsibilities: as bishop of the diocese of Canterbury and as spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide. The Church of England became the state establishment church after King Henry VIII's split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.
Mullally's enthronement also carries ecumenical significance. Earlier this year, she held a historic meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, as reported by European Pulse. That encounter underscored the ongoing dialogue between the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions, a relationship that has evolved since the Reformation.
As the first woman to lead the Anglican Communion, Mullally's tenure will be closely watched, particularly regarding her efforts to reform church governance and address abuse. Her background in healthcare and her experience as a bishop in London position her as a pragmatic leader navigating a diverse and sometimes divided global communion.
