Mullally, 63, formerly served as the chief nursing officer for England and will face significant challenges, including divisions regarding the treatment of women and LGBTQ individuals. She will also have to address concerns about church leaders’ insufficient efforts to address the sexual abuse scandals that have plagued the church for more than a decade.

This appointment of a woman represents a major milestone for a church that began ordaining female priests in 1994 and appointed its first female bishop in 2015. Mullally succeeds 105 men who have led Anglicans worldwide.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the appointment of Mullally to the role and wished her success.

“The Church of England is of profound importance to this country,” stated Starmer. “Its churches, cathedrals, schools, and charities are integral to the fabric of our communities. The Archbishop of Canterbury will play a pivotal role in our national life.”

She will succeed former archbishop, Justin Welby, who announced his resignation in November following an independent investigation that found he did not report serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he was informed of it.

“The new archbishop will encounter challenges such as declining church attendance, inefficient management structures, and clergy disagreements over private matters,” said Andrew Graystone, an advocate for church abuse survivors, to Britain’s Press Association. “However, the foremost challenge for the new archbishop is to restore trust after a decade of abuse scandals.”

While the choice of the new archbishop will be made in England and ratified by King Charles III, it will have ramifications around the world.

The Anglican Communion has more than 85 million members spread across 165 countries, including the Episcopal Church in the United States. While each national church has its own leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury is considered first among equals.

The process for Mullally was an 11-month marathon presided over by a committee of some 20 people chaired by the former director-general of MI5, Britain’s domestic spy agency.

“At least on the last few occasions, a new pope has been selected at great speed, but to select the Archbishop of Canterbury, which is not exactly equivalent but what many might see as a relatively equivalent position, it takes months,” said George Gross, an expert on monarchy and modern religious thought at King’s College London.

But it’s not the most transparent of processes. There was no published shortlist of candidates, nor an open vote. It was more a slow process of sounding out various interest groups to figure out which of the current bishops might be able to lead the church forward.