How the new Archbishop of Canterbury will be elected

The Anglican Church is currently without a leader. The number two in the hierarchy, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, is temporarily in charge until a successor is found. How is a new leader chosen for the 108 bishops of the Church of England?

There is no conclave or white smoke in the search for a new Archbishop of Canterbury. The selection process is in the hands of the Crown Nominations Commission, a committee of 16 voting members. The chairman is the former head of the domestic intelligence service MI5, Jonathan Evans, who was selected by the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

An Archbishop of York who is also under fire

This electoral commission also includes the second most important bishop in the Church of England, Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York. He is currently in charge of the Archbishopric of Canterbury and the worldwide Anglican Communion, to which around 85 million people belong. However, he is also considered to be under fire because of his behaviour in the abuse case, which was already Justin Welby's undoing.

The other members of the selection committee are both clergy and lay people - in contrast to the Catholic Church, where only clergy ultimately decide on the election of bishops in accordance with canon law. In Germany, by the way, it is a central demand of the Catholic reform project Synodal Way that lay people should also be involved in the election of bishops in future.

Once a candidate has been found

The Commission must identify the challenges facing the Anglican Church in England and the world and select two candidates whom it believes can fulfil these tasks. The Crown Nominations Commission then forwards the names of its two candidates to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister in turn informs King Charles III and advises him to appoint the top candidate.

The King is the secular head of the Anglican Church. In earlier centuries, he could appoint or dismiss bishops at will or, as in the 16th century, even have them burnt. This happened in 1556 with Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. Today, he has to accept the decision of the Electoral Committee and the Prime Minister.

The Queen did not always agree

According to her biographer Sarah Bradford, Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022, reacted very subtly to the election of a bishop she didn't really like. She then asked for more information, which the Prime Minister understood. If he nevertheless stuck to his proposals, she agreed in order to avoid an open conflict.

For King Charles III, this is the first Archbishop of Canterbury in whose selection he has been officially involved. Once he has given his consent, the top candidate is informed and asked whether he or even she wishes to accept the election. The Prime Minister then announces the name and the College of Clergy at Canterbury Cathedral formally elects him or her as the new Archbishop.

The election process can take time

A further committee of bishops must also give its approval before the candidate is formally installed in office in the cathedral. In contrast to the Catholic Church, which has a precise timetable for electing a successor to the Pope so that the most important office in the Church does not remain vacant for long, the Anglican election process can drag on.

According to initial media reports, the chances are good for these four bishops: Martyn Snow, the Bishop of Leicester, Graham Usher, the Bishop of Norwich and Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford. Helen-Ann Hartley, the Bishop of Newcastle, is also mentioned. She has spoken out very clearly about Welby's role as the only bishop and called for his resignation.

Whoever gets the top job in the Anglican Church, he or she must somehow hold the fractured community together. Conservatives and progressives have their strong camps, and the question of how to deal with homosexual partnerships still has the potential to cause a rift.