Appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury: 3 October 2025
The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally D.B.E. for election as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally D.B.E., for election by the College of Canons of Canterbury Cathedral in the place of The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Portal Welby, GCVO, as Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan.
Lord Evans of Weardale, KCB, DL, Chair of the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury welcomed the news:
It has been a great privilege to have chaired the Crown Nominations Commission as it sought to discern who God is calling to lead the Church of England and Anglican Communion as Archbishop of Canterbury. That discernment began with the public consultation, which heard the voices of thousands of people as they expressed their hopes for this nomination, and continued all the way through to the Commission’s final meeting. I would like to thank all those who took part in this process, particularly those who took time to share their views in the consultation and the members of the Commission who worked so diligently over several months, ably assisted by the Appointments Secretaries and by the Appointments and Vocations team at Lambeth Palace. I shall be praying for Bishop Sarah as she prepares to take up this new ministry in the coming months.
Background
Sarah Mullally was, prior to ordination, the Government’s Chief Nursing Officer for England having specialised as a cancer nurse. She was educated at South Bank University, London, and Heythrop College, University of London, and trained for ministry at the South East Institute of Theological Education. She completed her title at St. Saviour Battersea Fields, in the Diocese of Southwark, and was ordained as a priest in 2002.
In 2006, Sarah was appointed Team Rector, Christ Church, Sutton, Southwark and then became Canon Residentiary and Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral in 2012. In 2015, Sarah was consecrated as Suffragan Bishop of Crediton, in the Diocese of Exeter, and in 2018 took up her current role as Bishop of London as well as Dean of the Chapels Royal from 2019.