Archbishop of Canterbury resigns over abuse scandal: How Anglican Church’s next leader will be picked

A period of consultation on the needs of the Church of England, as well as the Anglican Communion, will be followed by an appointment of a Crown Nominations Committee.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, resigned on Tuesday. (Reuters)

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, on Tuesday resigned over an abuse cover-up scandal, marking an unprecedented moment for the Church of England.

Welby became the first leader of the church, as well as the wider Anglican Communion of 85 million Christians worldwide, to be forced out in this manner, according to experts.

The 68-year-old had been in the role since 2013, and would have been expected to retire around age 70.

How will the candidates be shortlisted?

A period of consultation on the needs of the Church of England, as well as the Anglican Communion, will be followed by an appointment of a Crown Nominations Committee.

The committee will consist of 17 voting members, including the archbishop of York who is the second-most-senior bishop in the institution. It will be chaired by an Anglican, ideally in public life, chosen by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Assembling the committee could take a couple of months, David Thompson, emeritus professor of modern church history at the University of Cambridge, told Reuters, adding that the whole process could take up to six months.

The committee will then make a recommendation to Starmer. If this is accepted by the prime minister, he will put the name forward to King Charles, who is the supreme governor of the Church of England.

Who are possible successors?

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Three bishops have been tipped to succeed Welby as the 106th archbishop of Canterbury: Martyn Snow, the bishop of Leicester, Graham Usher, the bishop of Norwich, and Guli Francis-Dehqani, the bishop of Chelmsford.

Snow abstained in a church assembly vote on blessing for gay couples, while Usher is in favour of gay rights.

Francis-Dehqani, who was ordained in 2017, just three years after the first woman bishop was appointed, was born in Iran. She would be the first woman to become archbishop if selected.

What challenges may they face?

The new archbishop will likely face the same persistent divisions on same-sex relationships that Welby tried to balance during his 11-year tenure.

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It has been a matter of contention not just in the wider Anglican Communion, which includes African churches where homosexuality is taboo, but also within the Church of England.

“The principal problem for the archbishop of Canterbury … is that he combines the role of the primate of all England, with being the head of the Anglican Communion,” Thompson said. “ It increasingly in the late 20th century and the early 21st century has revealed a conflict of role which has not been satisfactorily resolved during Archbishop Welby’s tenure.”