Who Might Be The Next Archbishop of Canterbury?
by Tom Middleton
(January 2025)
The Church of England was tearing itself apart over safeguarding, its church attendance remained below pre-COVID levels, and there was a widening gulf between its liberal bishops and its young, evangelical congregations. As the Crown Nominations Commission prepared to select Justin Welby’s successor, Tom Middleton asked: Can any candidate reverse the decline? Your most-read story of 2025. Read the full story here.
Related and also among 2025’s most-read stories:
First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
by Mark Michael
(October 2025)
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe called her “a wise and steady leader.” GAFCON’s Archbishop Mbanda said her appointment makes Canterbury’s leadership “impossible.” Mark Michael reports on Dame Sarah Mullally’s historic selection as the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury, examining how the former nurse and compromise-seeking bishop will navigate a Church of England in crisis and an Anglican Communion increasingly divided over her very legitimacy. Read the full story here.
Time for a Mary After a Martha? The Next Archbishop of Canterbury:
Part One
by Graham Kings
(February 2025)
“I thought we had had enough of Martha and it was time for some Mary,” quipped Prime Minister Harold Macmillan about appointing Michael Ramsey to succeed Geoffrey Fisher as Archbishop of Canterbury. In this widely-read Covenant essay, Graham Kings traced six decades of post-war archbishops and assessed Justin Welby's 12-year tenure, asking whether the Church of England needed less management and more spirituality in its next leader. Read the full story here.
