Almost three-quarters of people do not care who becomes the next archbishop of Canterbury, new polling suggests.
The Church of England’s most senior bishop is expected to be named in the coming weeks, almost a year after Justin Welby resigned over failures in handling a sex abuse scandal.
But new Ipsos polling for the PA news agency suggested 74% of the 1,100 British people surveyed do not care who was appointed.
Out of the 505 people who identified as Christian – not necessarily only those from a Church of England background – 62% also felt this way.
People cited the cost of living and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as among topics the public were following more closely than news of the archbishop.
In a job description published earlier this year by the Diocese of Canterbury, it was stated the person filling the role should be someone willing to be “unapologetic about offering a Christian perspective to local, national and international dialogue”.
However, according to the Ipsos polling, 28% of respondents said they want whoever ends up as the new archbishop to talk less about political topics, while 17% think they should speak out more.
Almost 37% said they felt it is acceptable for the leader of the Church to speak specifically about immigration and asylum, while 25% said it was unacceptable.
More than half of those surveyed said the archbishop should speak out about homelessness and poverty, and a third said they should promote charitable causes and challenges facing the country more than predecessors.
During his time in the role, Mr Welby was outspoken on issues of poverty, calling for the controversial two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.
He also strongly criticised the previous Conservative government’s scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which he warned was “leading the nation down a damaging path”.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, who temporarily replaced Mr Welby, last month waded into the current debate on immigration, accusing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of an “isolationist, short-term kneejerk” response to the Channel crossings crisis.
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How is the new archbishop chosen?
The new archbishop is chosen by the Crown Nominations Commission, a committee chaired by a former director-general of the MI5 security service.
After the group reaches a two-thirds majority on two preferred candidates, the nominations are presented to the prime minister, who selects one to be formally appointed by the King.
Candidates must be aged at least 30 and generally younger than 70 and historically they have been people already holding senior leadership roles in ministry in the Church or elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.
While no shortlist of candidates has been published, one of those thought to be a favourite is Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani, a former refugee who fled Iran with her family as a teenager in the wake of the Iranian revolution in 1980.
If selected, Ms Francis-Dehqani would make history by becoming the first female archbishop of Canterbury.
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Others thought to be in the running include the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Michael Beasley, a former epidemiologist who was a member of the Church’s coronavirus taskforce during the pandemic.
While technically the King is head of the Church of England, the archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior bishop and is the spiritual leader of the Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The chosen individual also holds a seat in the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual, and has the historic privilege of crowning the monarch of England.
