Anglican Crisis Deepens: Church of Nigeria Condemns Appointment of Sarah Mullaly as Archbishop of Canterbury Over Same-Sex Marriage Support and Female Headship

The Anglican Church Communion in Nigeria has issued a strong statement condemning and rejecting the appointment of Bishop Sarah Mullaly as the new Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the church worldwide. Mullaly’s appointment, announced on Friday by the Church of England, makes her the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury and the first woman to lead the global Anglican Communion.

Core Reasons for Rejection
The Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Henry Ndukuba, described Ms. Mullaly’s election and appointment as a “double jeopardy” and a “further confirmation that the global Anglican world could no longer accept the leadership of the Church of England and that of the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

The rejection is based on two primary theological and policy disputes:

Support for Same-Sex Marriage: Mr. Ndukuba cited Ms. Mullaly’s support for same-sex marriage as the “more disturbing” factor. He pointed to her 2023 speech, where she described the result of a vote to approve the blessings of homosexuals as a “moment of hope for the Church.”

Female Headship in the Episcopate: The Nigerian Church views Mullaly’s appointment as insensitive to the convictions of the majority of Anglicans who are unable to embrace female headship in the episcopate (the position of bishop or archbishop).

Action Taken and Broader Context
The Church of Nigeria, which belongs to the conservative GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) family, called on faithful Anglicans across the globe to reject and oppose Ms. Mullaly’s leadership.

The statement reaffirms the Church of Nigeria’s earlier stance to uphold the authority of the Scriptures, their historic creeds, and holy Christian living, irrespective of what they term the “ongoing revisionist agenda” within the broader Anglican Communion.

This dramatic rejection underscores the profound, decades-long crisis that has fractured the Anglican Communion globally, driven largely by disagreements over LGBTQ+ issues and theological interpretations of marriage and biblical authority. Mullaly, a former cancer nurse, will lead 85 million Anglican faithful worldwide, but now faces an immediate schism with one of the communion’s most populous and influential branches