In her opening sermon as Bishop of London in 2018, Mullally spoke of the challenges facing the capital, particularly escalating knife crime, and referenced historical sexual abuse within the Church.

She told the congregation that 105 years ago suffragettes tried to detonate a bomb under the seat on which she been enthroned moments earlier.

"Let me reassure you I do not come carrying bombs - or perhaps not literal ones anyway!

"But I am aware that as the first woman Bishop of London I am necessarily subversive — and it’s a necessity I intend to embrace," the Times reported, external.

Mullally makes history, againpublished at 10:04 BST

10:04 BST

Aleem Maqbool
Religion editor

Image source, PA Media

For the first time in nearly 500 years of history, the Church of England has nominated a woman to lead it.

Dame Sarah Mullally, 63, has been appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury Designate.

She was breaking new ground in her chosen profession even before she became a priest.

In 1999 she became the youngest ever chief nursing officer for England.

For more than seven years she has served as Bishop of London, the third most senior member of clergy in the Church and the first woman to do that job.

Women have only been allowed to become priests in the Church of England since the mid-1990s.

But there are senior bishops in the Church of England who are openly opposed to women joining the priesthood at all, never mind leading the institution.

Legislation requires Archbishops of Canterbury to retire at the age of 70, which is perhaps one reason why some had not viewed Dame Sarah Mullally as a front runner to be selected.

Instead she has made history. A date for her enthronement ceremony is yet to be announced.

Image source, PA Media

Dame Sarah Mullally has been named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

She is the first woman appointed to the Church of England's most senior clerical role in its nearly 500-year history.

Stay with us for further updates.

As we've been reporting, the new Archbishop of Canterbury will be named today. It comes almost a year after Justin Welby resigned over his role in a safeguarding scandal.

The process of choosing a successor to lead the Church of England has been overseen by a committee chaired by a former head of MI5.

In December last year, the prime minister appointed Lord Evans of Weardale (Jonathan Evans) as chairman of the Crown Nominations Commission for Canterbury.

The Crown Nominations Commissions is the Church's committee responsible for nominating candidates.

For the first time, women are eligible for the post.

The Church of England has been without a leader for nearly a year, after Justin Welby resigned last November over his failure to report prolific child abuser John Smyth.

He faced mounting pressure to step down following a damning independent review which found Welby - the most senior bishop within the Church - and other figures "knew, at the highest level" in 2013 about Smyth's abuse and should have reported him to the authorities.

Smyth, a barrister by trade ran Christian summer camps, where he was accused of attacking dozens of boys in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. He later moved to Zimbabwe and South Africa where he abused up to 100 boys aged 13 to 17.

Amid mounting pressure, Welby who had previously resisted calls to step down, acknowledged he must take "personal and institutional responsibility" and resigned.

He formally relinquished the role in January, putting an end to over a decade in post as Archbishop of Canterbury.

While there is no shortlist of names in line to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury, various people have been floated.

This includes the current Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani, who fled Iran with her family as a teenager.

Other women tipped for the role include the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, and the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally.

Men thought to be in the running include the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Michael Beasley, and the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox.

Image source, Getty Images

The Church of England has been without a leader for almost a year, after Justin Welby resigned following a safeguarding scandal.

Today, we are expecting to hear who his replacement will be, with many hopeful that the new Archbishop of Canterbury will be a woman.

Both female and male bishops are in the running. Women were first allowed to be ordained as priests in the Church in 1994, and the first female bishop appointments trailed 20 years later, in 2014.

Stay with us as we await the announcement, which we'll share with you here as soon as we get it.