Justin Welby stood down as Archbishop of Canterbury Tuesday, following intense criticism of his handling of an abuse case.
His Nov. 12 resignation was a blow not only for the Church of England (CofE) but also for the wider Anglican Communion, of which he was the spiritual leader.
There are an estimated 85 million Anglicans worldwide, making Anglicanism the third-largest Christian communion after Catholicism (1.39 billion members) and Orthodoxy (roughly 260 million).
The appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury is therefore of interest beyond the Anglican Communion. The Vatican, in particular, is likely to follow the process closely, ahead of a Jubilee Year that is expected to include major ecumenical events.
How will Welby’s successor be chosen? What are the criteria? And who are the front-runners for the post?
How will a successor be chosen?
In the Catholic Church, a new leader is elected by the world’s cardinals and signaled by a puff of white smoke. In the Coptic Orthodox Church, a new head’s name is picked out of a crystal vessel by a blindfolded boy. But selecting a new Archbishop of Canterbury is a little more prosaic.
The Crown Nominations Commission, founded in 1974, oversees the process. It is responsible not only for choosing archbishops of Canterbury, but also other diocesan bishops in the Anglican provinces of Canterbury and York — the two ecclesiastical provinces that comprise the Church of England.
According to the CofE’s website, all nominees must have the support of at least two-thirds of the commission’s 14 voting members, who ordinarily consist of the archbishops of Canterbury and York, six elected members of the local diocese’s vacancy committee, and six members elected from the General Synod, the CofE’s national assembly. The Anglican archbishops can be represented by Anglican diocesan bishops acting on their behalf.
The commission has two non-voting members: the archbishops’ secretary for appointments and the U.K. prime minister’s appointments secretary.
Why is a member of the British civil service involved in episcopal appointments? It’s because of the CofE’s status as England’s state church.
As the nation’s established church, the CofE has a unique relationship with the state apparatus. The British monarch is known as the supreme governor of the Church of England — a mainly ceremonial role.
Church of England bishops are involved in the secular legislative process as members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the U.K. parliament. The up to 26 CofE bishops who sit in the upper house are known as the Lords Spiritual. They include the archbishops of Canterbury and York.
When the see of the Archbishop of Canterbury has previously fallen vacant, there has been a broad consultation process to identify the strongest candidates. The process has examined the needs of the Canterbury diocese, in southeast England, the Church of England, and the Anglican Communion.
The Crown Nominations Commission has met to discuss the consultation’s findings and identify the candidate’s necessary qualities. It has then considered specific candidates.
Ultimately, the commission has reduced the field to two candidates. The first is the person recommended for the role. The other is the “second appointable candidate,” a backup in case the recommended candidate cannot take up the role.
According to British media, when the commission chooses the next Archbishop of Canterbury it will have 16 voting members, consisting of the Archbishop of York, another senior bishop, six General Synod members, three Canterbury diocese representatives, and five members selected from the wider Anglican Communion. Welby had reportedly pushed for greater Anglican Communion representation in the selection of his successor.
The two names chosen by the Crown Nominations Commission will be submitted to the prime minister, currently the Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, who is an atheist. The prime minister is expected to rubber stamp the recommended candidate, submitting the name for approval to the monarch, King Charles III, a confirmed Anglican with a love of Eastern Orthodoxy.
If the monarch assents to the appointment and the candidate accepts, the prime minister’s office will announce the archbishop-designate’s name.
What are the criteria?
The Archbishop of Canterbury is generally expected to be chosen from among the 42 diocesan bishops of the Church of England.
Candidates must be under the age of 70, the mandatory retirement age for archbishops of Canterbury. Ideally, they should be around 60, to ensure they have a suitably long tenure.
The candidate will also need to be capable of performing the six main duties of the Archbishop of Canterbury:
Overseeing the Canterbury diocese.
Serving as the metropolitan archbishop of the 30 dioceses of the province of Canterbury.
Attending national events as the Primate of All England.
Acting as first among equals within the Anglican Communion.
Representing the Anglican Communion in the ecumenical sphere.
Strengthening the Anglican Communion’s relations with non-Christian religious groups.
Who are the front-runners?
Most lists of potential candidates include the following names:
Stephen Cottrell, the 66-year-old Archbishop of York.
Rose Hudson-Wilkin, 63, the Bishop of Dover, the first Black woman to become a CofE bishop.
Guli Francis-Dehqani, 58, the Bishop of Chelmsford, whose father was the Anglican Bishop of Iran.
Sarah Mulally, the 62-year-old Bishop of London, who previously served as the chief nursing officer for England.
Martyn Snow, 56, the Indonesia-born Bishop of Leicester.
Rachel Treweek, 61, the Bishop of Gloucester.
Graham Usher, the 54-year-old Bishop of Norwich.
The Church of England’s first female bishop was consecrated in 2015, so there has never been a female archbishop of Canterbury. But there could be this time round.
The selection process typically takes months, suggesting Welby’s successor will be named in early 2025.
Do Anglicans have valid orders?
Catholics do not regard Anglican orders as valid.
In the mid-1500s, then-Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer released a new ordination ritual.
In 1896, Pope Leo XIII issued an apostolic letter, Apostolicæ curæ, in which the pope judged that the Anglican orders differed theologically from the Catholic Church in both “intention” and “form.”
By 'defect of intention' Leo XIII meant that by the omission of any reference to the eucharist as a sacrifice and to a sacrificing priesthood in the ordination ritual of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer, the Church of England intended to introduce a radically new rite into England, one markedly different from those approved by the Roman Catholic Church.
By 'defect of form' Leo XIII meant that the words of the Anglican ordination prayer, 'Receive the Holy Ghost', did not signify definitely the order of the Catholic priesthood with its power to consecrate and offer the body and blood of Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice.
While significant ecumenical work has taken place between Catholics and Anglicans in the last century, the Catholic Church does not regard Anglican orders as valid.
