Incoming Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally warns that national conversations on immigration are dividing society, urging unity through shared humanity.
LONDON: The incoming leader of the Church of England has warned that national conversations over immigration are dividing British society.
Sarah Mullally, who becomes Archbishop of Canterbury next month, raised the issue during her Christmas sermon at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
“Our national conversations about immigration continue to divide us, when our common humanity should unite us,” she said.
She urged Christians to “hold fast to joy as an act of resistance”.
This, she said, was “the kind of joy that does not minimise suffering but meets it with courage”.
Immigration has become a central political issue in the United Kingdom.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to tackle people smuggling gangs behind Channel crossings.
The issue is being exploited by the anti-immigration Reform party, whose rise mirrors advances by far-right parties across Europe.
Mullally, 63, will on January 28 become the first woman to lead the centuries-old mother church of the world’s 85-million strong Anglican community.
She succeeds Justin Welby, who stepped down earlier this year.
Welby’s departure followed findings that the Church of England had covered up a 1970s case of serial sexual abuse.
The church is currently looking into a 2020 complaint against Mullally’s handling of separate abuse allegations.
