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Female Anglican Leader Prays With Pope, Signaling Unity and Recalling Div...

that it would be “a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences... October, it was the first time that the heads of the two Christian churches had publicly prayed...

NYTIMES 입력 2026.04.27 22:04 0

Female Anglican Leader Prays With Pope, Signaling Unity and Recalling Div...

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Female Anglican Leader Prays With Pope, Signaling Unity and Recalling Divide

The meeting highlighted warming ties between two major Christian denominations, as well as longstanding differences on the ordination of women.

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A photo released by the Vatican on Monday showed Pope Leo meeting with the Most Rev. Sarah Mullally, the archbishop of Canterbury, at the Vatican.

Credit...

Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media, via Reuters

Elisabetta Povoledo

Reporting from Vatican City

April 27, 2026

Updated

9:55 a.m. ET

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The Most Rev.

Sarah Mullally

, the first woman to lead the Anglican Communion, prayed at the Vatican on Monday with Pope Leo XIV, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, projecting a powerful image of female ecclesiastical authority within an institution that maintains a male-only priesthood.

The historic meeting was both an expression of unity between two of the largest Christian denominations, which split nearly 500 years ago, as well as a reminder of one of their deepest contemporary differences.

The Church of England has allowed women to become priests since the 1990s, culminating in Archbishop Mullally’s appointment last year as archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior religious role within the Anglican faith. The Vatican, on the other hand, permits only men to be ordained and discussions about whether women can be ordained have been repeatedly tabled, most

recently in December.

Without referring to specific issues, Leo acknowledged

in an address

to the archbishop on Monday that there were “continuing challenges” in the relationship between the two denominations. He said that while “much progress has been made on some historically divisive issues, new problems have arisen in recent decades,” adding that it would be “a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear.”

In her address to Leo

, Archbishop Mullally said she was grateful that they had prayed together and pledged that in the years to come, “I will remain united with you in prayer: prayer for peace in our world; prayer for justice, and prayer that every person may come to discover the fullness of life that God offers.”

For Catholics campaigning to allow the ordination of women, the sight of a woman being received as the pope’s equal was a potent image that offered an example of what could be achieved within the Catholic church.

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