Who Is Sarah Mullally? The First Lady Archbishop of Canterbury Church in England

A former chief nursing officer for England, Dame Sarah Mullally, is now been elected as the Archbishop of Canterbury in England, according to reports. Mullally becomes the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury almost a year after Justin Welby announced to step down over failures in handling an abuse scandal case. The position has been vacant.

Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell took over the position as interim and took most of its responsibilities, and was one of the voting members. The Crown Nominations Commission (CNC)-led by Lord Evans of Weardale, who is a former director general of the MI15 security service.

Once this was agreed, the name of the proposed candidate was given to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – in line with tradition – before being passed to the King. The King is technically the head of the Church of England, but the Archbishop of Canterbury is seen as the spiritual leader of the church and the worldwide Anglican Communion and is the most senior bishop.

Who Is Dame Sarah Mullally?

Mullally is England's youngest chief nursing officer and the first female bishop of London. She now faces a challenging tenure, navigating ongoing safeguard scandals, deep divisions over the blessing of same-sex couples and declining church attendance figures that have yet to recover to pandemic levels.

Mullally left her government job in 2004 as chief nursing officer at the Department of Health. She took up a full-time ministry in the London borough of Sutton. She was made a Dame in 2005 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to nursing and midwifery.