Cancer nurse turned archbishop celebrates election as first woman to lead Church of England

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dame Sarah Mullally poses for a photo after an 87-mile pilgrimage from London to Canterbury Cathedral, in Canterbury, England, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)

LONDON — The new archbishop of Canterbury knocked three times on the doors of the city’s great cathedral on Wednesday, ceremonially demanding to be allowed inside in a tradition laid down over centuries by each new leader of the Church of England.

But this time, for the first time ever, a woman came knocking. And the doors were opened.

Sarah Mullally, a former cancer nurse who became a priest at the age of 40, walked into the cathedral to celebrate her historic election as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury since the post was created more than 1,400 years ago.

Although Mullally, 63, formally became archbishop in January, Wednesday’s event marked the beginning of her public ministry as both the head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The communion is an association of independent churches, including the Episcopal Church in the U.S., that together have more than 100 million members.

“We walk with God -- trusting that God walks with us,” Mullally said in her first sermon as archbishop. “Trusting that -- in all that we face, in the sorrow and the challenges as much as in the joy and the delight -- we do not walk alone.″

The ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral was attended by Prince William, Princess Catherine, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and representatives from many of the 42 churches that comprise the Anglican Communion. Representatives from the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox church also attended.

In a nod to Mullally’s historic appointment, the service was held on the Feast of the Annunciation, which marks the moment Mary was told she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. It is a day on which the church says it celebrates “one of the great women of the Bible and thinks about how we can respond to God’s call.”

The celebration marks a major milestone for the Church of England, which traces its roots to the year 597, when the pope sent St. Augustine to Britain to convert the population to Christianity. He is now recognized as the first archbishop of Canterbury. The English church broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, during the reign of King Henry VIII.

The church ordained its first female priests in 1994 and its first female bishop in 2015.

Rifts in the Anglican Communion

Mullally begins her tenure as archbishop at a difficult time for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, whose members are deeply divided over issues such as the role of women and the treatment of LGBTQ+ people.

Mullally will also have to confront concerns that the church has failed to stamp out the sexual abuse scandals that have dogged it and caused strife for more than a decade.

Mullally replaces former Archbishop Justin Welby, who announced his resignation in November 2024, after he was criticized for failing to act decisively and tell police about allegations of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at a church-affiliated summer camp.

In an interview with the BBC this week, Mullally said the church was “seeking to become more trauma informed, listening to survivors and victims of abuse.” She added that “light should be shone on all our actions, and the more senior we are, the more light should be shone.″

In her sermon, Mullally said she had “such hope″ for the church and considered ways big and small in which she found God in action.

“The church, through the ordinary lives of its people, contains so many extraordinary acts of love,” she said. “God’s people, offering a listening ear, a word of encouragement, or prayer for healing; offering food and shelter, sanctuary and welcome; in a world that so often seeks to divide us, tables to sit at and conversations to be shared.”

From nurse to archbishop

Mullally, who is married and has two adult children, was born in 1962 in Woking, southwest of London.

She attended local schools and worked as a nurse in Britain’s National Health Service until she was named chief nursing officer for England at the age of 37, the youngest person ever to hold the post. While still working in that job, she began training for the ministry.

Mullally was named a bishop in 2015, becoming the fourth woman in the Church of England to reach that rank. Three years later, she was named bishop of London, one of the most prominent positions in the church.

She was named Archbishop of Canterbury after a months-long selection process conducted by a committee of senior clergy and lay people, including representatives from the government and Anglican Communion.

But her appointment was not without controversy in a church that is still split over the role of women.

Archbishop Henry Ndukuba of the Church of Nigeria said her election was “devastating” and insensitive “to the conviction of the majority of Anglicans who are unable to embrace female headship in the episcopate.”

But Wednesday focused on a new start, rather than longstanding disagreements.

The service underscored the Anglican Communion’s worldwide reach, with Archbishop Albert Chama of Zambia offering a prayer in the Bemba language and Bishop Alba Sally Sue Hernandez Garcia of Mexico providing a Bible reading in Spanish. The Kyrie prayer was sung in Urdu.

An African choir sauntered down the nave, offering a song of praise. Many in the crowd swayed.

And there were nods to the past. Mullally remembered her life before the church, securing her ceremonial cloak with a clasp decorated by the buckle from the belt she wore as a nurse.

At the most sacred moments of the service, she almost looked as if she would burst into happy tears.

And when it was over, there was applause, long and sustained.

George Gross, an expert on theology and the monarchy at King’s College London, said Mullally’s appointment instantly makes her one of the most recognized Christian figures in the world, alongside the pope.

“I think it’s huge, absolutely massive,” he told The Associated Press. “The stained glass ceiling is smashed.”

Danica Kirka, The Associated Press