Story perspectives

Pope Meets First Female Archbishop, Opens Women Ordination Dialogue

4/29/2026

Summary

Story summary

Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally prayed in the Urban VIII Chapel on 26 April 2026.
The meeting, despite the Holy See’s refusal to recognize women’s priesthood, cited the 60th anniversary of the 1966 Anglican-Catholic statement and pledged dialogue on women’s ordination.
Mullally, on her foreign trip as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, announced a July visit to Cameroon and Ghana, while Global Anglican Future Conference criticized the appointment.

History

Historical Context

The Church of England’s ordination of 32 women priests in March 1994—after early lay-reader licences in 1917, the 1974 Philadelphia Eleven, and the Episcopal Church’s 1976 approval—marked a turning point that Anglican leaders cite in ecumenical talks with the Vatican. Those discussions, persisting into the 2020s, reference the 1994 precedent while the Catholic Church maintains its 1994 doctrinal ban on women priests.

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Story summary

Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally prayed in the Urban VIII Chapel on 26 April 2026.
The meeting, despite the Holy See’s refusal to recognize women’s priesthood, cited the 60th anniversary of the 1966 Anglican-Catholic statement and pledged dialogue on women’s ordination.
Mullally, on her foreign trip as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, announced a July visit to Cameroon and Ghana, while Global Anglican Future Conference criticized the appointment.

1 / 2