Iranian refugee could become first female Archbishop of Canterbury

Rt Rev Guli Dr Francis-Dehqani, who came to the UK as a refugee following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, is among those running for the Church of England’s most senior role.

The Bishop of Chelmsford is joined on the shortlist by the Rt Rev Dame Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London and a former chief nursing officer at the Department for Health.

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If chosen, either would become the first woman to be appointed Archbishop of Canterbury - a landmark moment for the institution, which only began allowing female bishops in 2014.

Bishop Francis-Dehqani’s father was the Anglican bishop in Iran from 1961 to 1990, and her mother was born to second generation Christian missionaries.

Following the 1979 revolution, which saw the replacement of Iran’s pro-Western monarchy with an Islamic Republic, the bishop’s parents were attacked for their christian beliefs in an assassination attempt that left her mother wounded.

When she was 14, her family was forced to leave the country and settled in Hampshire, where her father remained bishop in exile.

She believes that her brother, who died aged 24, was killed by the regime as a “scapegoat” for her father after his death.

Now Bishop of Chelmsford, she has been outspoken on political issues, condemning the conservative government’s Rwanda asylum policy as "a shameful departure from the UK’s proud history of treating those who seek asylum with compassion".

She has also urged Western action against the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Dame Sarah Mullally became the first female bishop of London in 2018, having earlier served as chief nursing officer for England.

She was made a dame in 2005 for her services to nursing and has used her platform to highlight challenges facing women priests and to oppose the assisted dying bill.

The final decision, expected on Friday morning, rests with the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC), chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, the former head of MI5.

Once the CNC agrees on two names by a two-thirds majority, the list will be passed on to the prime minister, who will recommend one candidate for formal appointment by the King.

The post has been vacant since Justin Welby resigned in November, following a damning review into his handling of the most shocking abuse scandal in the history of the Church of England.

Bishop Welby resigned over the Church’s handling of the sadistic abuser, John Smyth, an evangelical Christian.

An independent review found that Smyth subjected more than 120 boys and young men to brutal sexual, physical and psychological abuse from the late 1970s, many of them pupils at Winchester College or attendees of Christian summer camps.

The report also found the abuse could have been exposed four years earlier had Welby alerted the authorities, accusing him of “minimisation” Smyth’s actions.

Other names thought to be under consideration include the Rt Rev Michael Beasley, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Rt Rev Pete Wilcox, Bishop of Sheffield.

The appointment of the first female Archbishop of Canterbury would be hailed by many liberal members of the Church as a major step for women in the Church - yet is expected to anger the more conservative figures of the institution.

The recent election of Bishop Ceren Davies, the openly lesbian Archbishop of Wales, has already drawn condemnation from the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, which called it “another painful nail in the coffin of Anglican orthodoxy”.

Yet, her appointment sets a precedent that may influence the CNC’s decision regarding a female leader.

Under existing Church provisions, parishes opposed to the authority of women bishops can opt for alternative episcopal oversight from male bishops, known as ‘Flying Bishops’.