For the first time a woman is primate of the Anglican church. Prime Minister Starmer and Prince William were also present at the ceremony, but many faithful (especially in Africa) turn up their noses.
Last night, in the presence of all the most important officials in the United Kingdom, Sarah Mullally was officially installed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, first woman in the thousand-year history of the position.
Who is Sarah Mullally
Born in 1962 in Woking, Surrey, Mullally worked for over thirty years in the British National Health Servicespecializing as oncology nurse and becoming Chief Nursing Officer for England at just 37, the youngest person to hold that role.
While carrying out that role she felt the call to faith and undertook theological training, being ordained a priest in 2002 (since the 1990s the Anglican Church has allowed women to be ordained priests).
In 2015, shortly after the passing of the law allowing women to become bishops, she became the fourth female bishop in the history of the Church of EnglandAnd in 2018 the first female bishop of Londonthe third most important position in the Anglican hierarchy.
The appointment as CEO finally arrived in October last year Archbishop of Canterburythe most important of the Anglican Church.
The ceremony
The installation ceremony took place in Canterbury Cathedral in the presence of the Prince Williamof the princess Kate and the prime minister Keir Starmer. Mullally walked down the nave in golden liturgical robes, knocking three times on the cathedral door according to the ancient rite.
In her inaugural sermon she said, “I am here as a servant of Jesus Christ.” The ceremony was held on the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Church celebrates the appearance of the Angel Gabriel to Mary.
Twenty-six Anglican primates from around the world were in attendance; at the end of the rite Mullally took a solemn oath committing himself to the service of Church of Englandof the Anglican Communion and of the entire Church of Christ in the world.
The importance of office
The Archbishop of Canterbury is a “point of reference for the unity” of the 42 autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communionpresent in over 165 countries, and is one of the four «Instruments of Communion» that hold together the Anglican churches in the world, playing the role of “primus inter pares” (first among equals).
As the Bishop of Winchester recalled, «the office is older than the Crown of England itself», dating back to 597 AD Mullally inherits a role marked by a profound crisis: the predecessor Justin Welby he had resigned in 2024 after one scandal linked to the cover-up of sexual abuseand she promised to do everything possible to make the Church safer and better respond to victims.
The controversies after the appointment
The appointment of a woman to the highest episcopal office However, it triggered an unprecedented crisis in the Anglican Communion, which has around 85 million faithful in 42 provinces.
The group Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which brings together conservative churches, especially African and Asian, had declared since Mullally’s appointment last October that Canterbury “abdicated” its leadership authority.
The main reasons for the conflict are in fact female ordination, but also the blessings of homosexual couplesthe latter actually suspended since the last synod held in February this year after years of debate within the United Kingdom.
On October 16, 2025, the president of GAFCON Laurent Mbandaprimate of Rwanda, announced that the group would rename itself the “Global Anglican Communion”claiming for itself the legitimacy of the entire Anglican tradition.
At the assembly in Abuja, Nigeria, in March 2026, the election of its own “Primus inter pares” in direct rivalry with Canterbury was expected; in the end we opted for a collegial body, the Global Anglican Council, with Mbanda elected president. We have therefore come one step away from schism, which, however, is in fact already underway.
Historians like Diarmaid MacCulloch they spoke precisely of «de facto schism», while GAFCON leaders prefer to call themselves the «reformed communion», claiming that to have distanced itself from tradition, pursuing the woke spirit of contemporary Anglo-Saxon societies, was Canterburynot them.
