03/25/2026
LWF welcomes new Archbishop of Canterbury
LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt, and the Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations, Prof. Dr Dirk Lange, were among some 2,000 people gathered in England’s ancient Canterbury Cathedral today for the installation of Anglican Archbishop Sarah Mullally, the first woman elected to lead the Church of England.
“This is a historic moment and we are delighted to be here representing the global Lutheran communion as Archbishop Sarah inaugurates her ministry,” Burghardt said. “Anglicans and Lutherans enjoy close and fruitful relationships, including some full communion agreements in different parts of the world and so we are happy to join other ecumenical delegates here to pray and to wish Archbishop Sarah every blessing as she begins her new role,” she added.
Mullally was elected last December after spending eight years as the Anglican Bishop of London. Before her ordination in 2002, she had a successful career in nursing, rising to become England’s youngest Chief Nursing Officer. Following her election as the new archbishop of Canterbury, she reflected that, in her new calling, she would “strive to carry the care and compassion that shaped my vocation as a nurse into everything that I do.”
