Details of the legal ceremony are included in the Confirmation of the Election Order of Service, (pp 19 to 23 inc.), reproduced in full here, with components of the ceremony reproduced below and elements relating to the opportunity to raise objection italicized.
Extracts from Confirmation of the Election Order of Service
The Confirmation of Election, (19 to 23)
- Presentation by the Proctor and reading by the Provincial Registrar of the Letters Patent of the King issued under the Great Seal of the Realm requiring the Confirmation of the Election of the Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally, Bishop of London to be Archbishop and Pastor of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ Canterbury.
- The Confirmation of Election by the Archbishop of York who decreed that it be proceeded with according to the form and effect of the said Letters Patent in the presence of the Provincial Registrar of the Province of Canterbury, a Notary Public.
- The Advocate identified and presented the Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally as the person elected Archbishop and Pastor of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ Canterbury.
- The production by the Proctor for the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ Canterbury of the Original Mandate which required public notice to be given and statement that anyone wishing to oppose the election should do so at an appointed time and place prior to the date of the Confirmation, or else would be debarred from pursuing any objection.
- Endorsed on the Mandate was a certificate which verified that public notice was duly given as required and that no person had appeared in opposition to the Confirmation.
- A Statement by the Archbishop of York that Full opportunity having been given for opposers to appear whose objections could be lawfully received and none having appeared as ordered, we now proceed with the process of Confirmation of the Election.
- Presentation by the Proctor to the Archbishop of York of a Petition which sets out in detail the vacation of the See and the steps taken to elect an archbishop and asking that the election be confirmed; signature by the Advocate; and admission by the Archbishop of York who then requests immediate proof of the matters recited in the Petition. The Proctor then exhibited:
- a Certificate touching and concerning the Election of the Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally, Bishop of London to be Bishop and Pastor of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ Canterbury made by the College of Canons of the said Cathedral and Metropolitical Church and issued under their Common Seal.
- a public document containing the consent of the Archbishop-Elect to the said election; and
- His Majesty’s Letters Patent which had already been read.
- The Archbishop of York admitted all these documents and accepted their validity and the truthfulness of all that is contained in them; The Proctor then requested the court to proceed to the pronouncing of the definitive Sentence or Final Decree in this matter and he porrect that it be read.
- The Schedule, which accepted that everything had been done in order, and pronounced as contumacious (i.e., disobedient to the order of the Court) all who would oppose the election, was then read and signed.
- The Provincial Registrar gave a Bible to the Archbishop-Elect as she took the Oath kneeling, and standing (with all Royal Commissioners and Legal Officials also standing), made and subscribes to the Declaration.
- The Proctor porrected a definitive Sentence or Final Decree in writing which was read and declared.
- The Archbishop of York then read the Sentence or Final Decree of the Court that the Election was carried out in due form, that the Election is confirmed and that ‘the care, government and administration of the Spirituals’ of the See of Canterbury are committed to the Archbishop-Elect. The Sentence or Final Decree was then signed by the Archbishop of York and the other Royal Commissioners and countersigned by the Vicar-General, the Advocate and the Provincial Registrar.
- The Proctor said: The Lord Archbishop, now Elected and Confirmed, and myself pray that a Public Instrument and Letters Testimonial shall be made and issued by the Commissioners as a record of these proceedings.
- The Lord Archbishop of York said “We do decree as prayed”
Welcome by Diocesan Bishops, (24).
- The Bishops on the Dais stand and affirm the Confirmation of the Archbishop.
Comment
Since the consecration of the Rt Rev Libby Lane at York Minster in January 2015, these services have attracted a degree of disruption by protestors. On 21 May 2018, we considered the protests at the installation of Rt Revd Sarah Mullally to the See of London based on objections to consecration of women as bishops. During the legal proceedings of the on 28 January 2026 a protest was raised relating to the handling of a safeguarding issue by the Rt Revd Mullally; the Archbishop of York said that a “full opportunity” had been given for lawful objections, but none had been received and the process would therefore continue.
Beyond the service itself, Conservative Anglican groups, especially in parts of Africa and the Global South, have expressed strong objections to Mullally’s leadership, on grounds that she is a woman and also because of broader concerns over theological direction and biblical interpretation.