New Archbishop of Canterbury important for women, bishop says

The first female Archbishop of Canterbury will "lead in a different way that will show a different face of the Church of England", the Bishop of Reading has said.

The Right Reverend Mary Gregory described Dame Sarah Mullally as a "remarkable" person.

"It's really important for people to see that these roles are opening up to women for the first time in 106 incumbencies," she told the BBC.

Dame Sarah was officially confirmed as the most senior member of clergy in the Church of England at a service at St Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday.

While the King is head of the Church of England, the person holding the role of Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior bishop and is the spiritual leader of the Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Gregory was installed as Bishop of Reading last March, and is the second woman to hold her position, having succeeded the Right Reverend Olivia Graham who retired in 2024.

She said she was surprised when she first heard Dame Sarah was chosen for the role of Archbishop.

"We got an advance notice of who the [Archbishop] announcement was going to be a few months ago," she explained.

"I was scanning through the letter and I saw the word 'her' and I was like 'oh my goodness', and I had to scan further to see the name of the person.

"I think it's really important for people like me but more for women of a younger generation."

Gregory predicted that there would "continue to be some conversation about the fact that she's a woman, partly because the Church of England is still not of one mind about women's ministry".

But she said there was "something about leading like a woman and that is what I see her doing".

She added: "Some leaders can always put on quite a front, be always very front-footed… and I think there's a way of leading out of your humanity, and I think that's what she's going to do, and I think there's something very... Christ-like about that."

The Church was without someone in the top job for almost a year after Justin Welby resigned over a safeguarding scandal.

The new Archbishop has been accused of improperly handling a complaint against a priest in London, though the Church of England is taking no further action.

But Gregory said Dame Sarah had "really owned the fact that people have made complaints".

"She's encouraging those complaints about her to be looked at carefully and thoroughly... and I think that's a really good sign that she's somebody open to learning, open to own anything that she may have done wrong."

Dame Sarah, a former NHS chief nurse, became a priest in 2006 and was appointed as the first female Bishop of London in 2018 - the third most senior member of clergy in the Church of England.

Women were first ordained priests in the Church in 1994, while the first female bishop appointments followed 20 years later in 2014.