The appointment of Dame Sarah Mullally as the first female archbishop of Canterbury has drawn sharp criticism from Gafcon, a global Anglican movement, which accused the Church of England of abandoning biblical teaching by choosing a leader who has affirmed blessings for same-sex relationships.

Gafcon leaders said Mullally’s support for introducing prayers of blessing for same-sex marriages and her 2023 comment that some same-sex relationships could be blessed showed she had failed to uphold her consecration vows. They warned that her elevation would deepen divisions in the 85 million-member Anglican Communion and render Canterbury unable to serve as a focus of unity.

“When she was consecrated in 2015, she took an oath to ‘banish and drive away all strange and erroneous doctrine contrary to God’s Word,’” he said. “And yet, far from banishing such doctrine, Bishop Mullally has repeatedly promoted unbiblical and revisionist teachings regarding marriage and sexual morality.”

“For over a century and a half, the Archbishop of Canterbury functioned not only as the Primate of All England but also as a spiritual and moral leader of the Anglican Communion,” Rev. Laurent Mbanda, chairman of the Gafcon Primates Council, said. “In more recent times, the See of Canterbury has been described as one of the four ‘instruments of Communion,’ whilst also chairing the other three Instruments, namely the Lambeth Conference, the Primates Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council.” “However, due to the failure of successive Archbishops of Canterbury to guard the faith, the office can no longer function as a credible leader of Anglicans, let alone a focus of unity,” he continued. “As we made clear in our Kigali Commitment of 2023, we can ‘no longer recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury as an Instrument of Communion’ or the ‘first among equals’ of global Primates.”