Nurse, refugee, and beekeeper top contenders to be next Archbishop of Canterbury

A former nurse, a refugee and a beekeeper are among the leading contenders to replace the Archbishop of Canterbury as he leaves the role today.

A secretive committee, led by a former British spy chief, will begin the process of finding and voting for candidates to become the 106th leader of the Church of England.

Justin Welby will formally give up the position on midnight on Monday after being forced to resign over failures in handling a church abuse scandal.

An independent review judged that Welby could have brought John Smyth, a Christian camp leader who abused as many as 130 boys and young men over five decades, to justice in 2013.

More than 100 bishops in the Church of England, including 42 senior diocesan bishops, are now in the race to replace Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Welby’s heir apparent, the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, seemed to rule himself out last year, and has since faced calls to resign over perceived failures in his handling of a separate abuse case.

The months-long process to find the Anglican Church’s spiritual leader will be overseen by the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC).

Lead by Lord Evans of Weardale, the CNC will invite nominations to the role and invite candidates to join the process. The CNC will then meet three times before the autumn to vote in a secret ballot to determine Welby’s successor.

Here are some of the candidates in contention for the Church’s top job.

Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London

The former nurse is already stepping into Welby’s shoes, as she is set to take charge of the metropolitan functions held by the Archbishop of Canterbury while the post is vacant.

Mullally was appointed chief nursing officer for England in 1999 and was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2005 for her contribution to nursing and midwifery.

She was the first ever female Bishop of London when she was installed in May 2018, and would become the first female Archbishop of Canterbury if appointed.

She is married with two children and is a novice potter.

Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford

Born in Iran, Francis-Dehqani arrived in the UK as a refugee from Iran following her brother’s assassination.

Her father had converted from Islam to Christianity and later became the Anglican Bishop in Iran, making her family targets for persecution after the Islamic Revolution in the country in 1979.

Francis-Dehqani, who has been Bishop of Chelmsford since April 2021 and is the lead bishop for housing for the Church of England, is outspoken on social issues and conflict in the Middle East.

She told Premier Christianity Magazine: ‘There’s a lot of talk about innocent lives being lost in Gaza, yet the international community is still providing arms to Israel.

‘The International Court of Justice has spoken out, but there is a fear of conflating criticism of the Jewish state with being antisemitic. There is no place for antisemitism, but neither should any government be above the law.’

She is married with three children.

Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich

The ecologist and keen beekeeper is the church’s lead bishop on the environment.

He became the 72nd Bishop of Norwich in June 2019 and is patron or president of more than 25 charities.

Usher played an active role in the 2023 Coronation as one of the two bishop assistants to Queen Camilla.

He is married to a GP and has two children.

Michael Beasley, Bishop of Bath and Wells

The former epidemiologist was called on to use his background during the pandemic as a member of the Church of England’s Covid task force.

He was also involved in the launch of vaccinaid.org, which raised millions of pounds to support the vaccination of low-income countries.

The Bishop also stepped into the limelight at Glastonbury Festival in 2024, where he addressed the crowd for five minutes

He is married and became the 80th Bishop of Bath and Wells in 2022.

Martyn Snow, Bishop of Leicester

The seventh Bishop of Leicester has a background in the Anglican Church’s global roots, having been born in Indonesia and later working in West Africa.

He entered the House of Lords in 2022 with a particular focus on issues relating to poverty.

The Church of England has also tasked him with addressing racism and prejudice in the Church, as a member of the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns.

Snow is also the lead Bishop for Living in Love and Faith and is a support of local Leicester City and Leicester Tigers.

Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover

Born in Jamaica, she became the Church of England’s first black female bishop as Bishop of Dover in 2019.

First ordained as a priest in 1994, she served almost 17 years as a priest in Hackney, London.

The bishop was appointed as a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 and then first female Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons in 2010.

Her husband Kenneth is a prison chaplain and they have three children.

Bishop Rose will take on diocesan functions usually held by the Archbishop of Canterbury while the post is vacant.

Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Newcastle

Serving as Bishop of Newcastle since April 2023, Hartley has been outspoken regarding the Church’s safeguarding failures.

She was the only bishop to call publicly for Mr Welby’s resignation and has also criticised Cottrell over his handling of abuse in the church.

She worked in New Zealand, becoming the Bishop of Waikato on the country’s North Island before being appointed Bishop of Ripon in North Yorkshire.

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