Sarah Mullally was named on Friday as the first female head of the Church of England, but her appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury immediately drew criticism from conservative Anglicans, mainly based in Africa, who oppose women bishops.

Mullally will also become the ceremonial head of 85 million Anglicans worldwide and, like her predecessors, faces a tough challenge in bridging the divide between conservatives and generally more liberal Christians in the West.

Making her first address in Canterbury Cathedral, the 63-year-old former career nurse condemned the sexual abuse scandals and safeguarding issues that have dogged the Church and also antisemitism following an attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday, which killed two men.

New archbishop has supported liberal causes

GAFCON, a grouping of conservative Anglican churches globally, immediately criticised Mullally’s appointment, saying it showed that the English arm of the Church had “relinquished its authority to lead”.

Addressing those who might object to her appointment, Mullally said: “I intend to be a shepherd who enables everyone’s ministry and vocation to flourish, whatever our tradition.”

Reforms introduced 11 years ago have made it possible for a woman to become Archbishop of Canterbury, an office that dates back more than 1,400 years. It is also one of the last British institutions to have been run until now only by men.

Bishop of London since 2018, she has previously championed several liberal causes within the Church.

In her address, Mullally spoke of the difficulties of an age which “craves certainty and tribalism” and a country which is wrestling with complex moral and political questions around migration and communities feeling overlooked.

“Mindful of the horrific violence of yesterday’s attack on a synagogue in Manchester, we are witnessing hatred that rises up through fractures across our communities,” she said, adding that it was her Christian faith that gave her hope in a world which often feels “on the brink”.

Safeguarding improvements needed

The Church of England has been without a leader since last November when Justin Welby resigned over a child abuse cover-up scandal, and Mullally said she would focus on improvements in that area.

“My commitment will be to ensure that we continue to listen to survivors, care for the vulnerable, and foster a culture of safety and well-being for all,” she said.

Linda Woodhead, professor of theology and religious studies at King’s College London, said Mullally’s strong management skills were needed to help address safeguarding issues.

“Her emphasis on unity, gentleness and strength is exactly what the church, and nation, needs right now,” she said.

‘It’s all about people’

Mullally is a former cancer nurse who worked as England’s Chief Nursing Officer in the early 2000s, while also being ordained as a priest in 2002. She became one of the first women to be consecrated as a bishop in the Church of England in 2015.

“There are great commonalities between nursing and being a priest. It’s all about people, and sitting with people during the most difficult times in their lives,” she once told a magazine.

She has advocated for creating an open and transparent culture in churches which allows for difference and disagreement, and has spoken on issues including the cost-of-living crisis, healthcare, and social justice.

Mullally is married to Eamonn and has two adult children.

PM Starmer wishes her ‘every success’

Reflecting the Church of England’s status as England’s established church, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office announced Mullally’s appointment on Friday with the formal consent of King Charles.

“The Archbishop of Canterbury will play a key role in our national life. I wish her every success and look forward to working together,” Starmer said in a statement.

As monarch, Charles is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, a role established in the 16th century when King Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church.

Some Nobel laureates were straight-A students from the get-go. But others AFP spoke to recounted how they cut class, got expelled, and had doubts about their future.

Perhaps the most illustrious Nobel Prize winner, Albert Einstein, was once a mediocre student at Zurich Polytechnic School, now ETH Zurich.

The young Einstein skipped classes, wanted to study physics exclusively, and finished second-last in his class in 1900.

After graduating, he was the only student not offered a research assistant position, according to the Swiss university’s website.

Einstein went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.

Frances Arnold, who won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, also cut classes after a turbulent start to her education in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s.

“I was disruptive. I was just bored and well beyond what the rest of the kids in the class were doing. And the teachers often gave me little projects decorating the classroom and things like that,” she recalled in an interview with AFP.

At the age of 10, she was allowed to take high school courses such as geometry — a challenge she appreciated at first.

But by the time she reached her teens, she wasn’t enjoying school anymore to the point that she stopped going and was expelled.

“I guess I wasn’t interested in what they had to teach us. Or if I was interested in it, I just learned it on my own from a textbook. So I managed to pass all my classes despite many absences, I would say.”

Now aged 69, she acknowledges that hers is not a model to follow, but believes schools should show more flexibility.

“They don’t have the wherewithal to do anything special for the kids who really would benefit,” she lamented.

Overcoming challenges

David Card, the 2021 Nobel economics laureate, also had unconventional educational beginnings. “There’s almost nobody I’ve met… in an economics PhD programme that has a background like mine where they went to a rural school.”

Born on a farm in Canada in the 1950s, he was enrolled in a small one-room schoolhouse, where one teacher taught around 30 students at different grade levels.

“The way the teacher did it was she would spend some time with each row, which was one of the grades. I actually paid attention to a couple of grades beyond mine for most of the material,” he said.

“So you could kind of accelerate very quickly, very easily.”

The system was less ideal for students who needed more individualised support, he acknowledged.

According to the Nobel Foundation, other laureates had to overcome major academic challenges before going on to win the prestigious Nobel.

The first woman to win the economics prize, Elinor Ostrom, was turned down when she applied for a PhD in economics; 2009 medicine prize laureate Carol Greider struggled with dyslexia as a child; and 2015 chemistry prize winner Tomas Lindahl failed chemistry in high school.

Humble beginnings

Arnold and Card both started working at a young age, which the two consider an important life experience.

In her teens, Arnold held odd jobs as a waitress, receptionist and taxi driver.

“You appreciate more what the university education can give to you, in terms of getting a job you actually might want to have for the rest of your life.”

“It also teaches you how to organise your time.”

Similarly, Card juggled school and farm life very early on.

“I don’t think there was that much homework back then in my schools. So there was lots of time,” he recalled.

“I helped my father. I learned to drive a tractor when I was about 11. Every morning, I got up at 5am and helped him milk the cows and then I would have a shower and go to school.”

Both prizewinners also studied other subjects before discovering their respective passions.

Arnold pursued studies in mechanical engineering and aeronautics before turning to chemistry.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I went into mechanical engineering because it had the fewest requirements for engineering,” she admitted.

And Card initially studied physics before switching to economics.

Despite their unconventional paths, both ultimately found their way to brilliance.

• Typhoon Bualoi leaves 14 people missing and injured 164 others.
• Disaster management agency raises estimate of property damage. 
• More than 230,000 houses damaged or inundated by typhoon.

The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Bualoi and the floods it triggered has risen to 51, according to a Friday government report, as the central bank urged banks to support affected businesses.

Bualoi made landfall on Monday in northern central Vietnam, bringing huge sea swells, strong winds and heavy rains that also left 14 people missing and injured 164 others, according to the report from the government’s disaster management agency.

The agency also raised its estimate of property damage caused by the typhoon and its flooding to 15.9 trillion dong ($603 million), up from $435.8 million in a previous report released on Thursday.

The typhoon severely damaged roads, schools and offices, and caused power grid failures that left tens of thousands of families without electricity, the report said.

More than 230,000 houses were damaged or inundated, and nearly 89,000 hectares of rice and other crops were destroyed, it said.

The report did not mention any major damage to industrial properties.

Vietnam is a regional manufacturing hub, and large factories in or near the typhoon’s path included some owned by Foxconn, Formosa Plastics, Luxshare and Vinfast.

The central bank has told banks to consider restructuring or freezing loans for firms hit by the typhoon, deputy governor Pham Thanh Ha said on Friday.