She is an answer to the prayers of all those who long for change in society

Sarah Mullally, the first female archbishop of Canterbury, is a trailblazer whose NHS leadership skills will be invaluable to the church

- Lucy Winkett

She has said she feels both peaceful, and at the same time excited. I can't believe that she isn't daunted too.

Sarah Mullally, the first woman to be appointed archbishop of Canterbury, is a trained midwife, has worked as a cancer nurse and has already exercised senior leadership in not one but two national institutions, overseeing complex and diverse communities in the NHS as chief nurse and in the Church of England as bishop of London.

For "diverse" read "polarised" - within the church, anyway. Theologically, archbishops are required to be what the church calls "instruments of unity".

She has much experience of leading in this way, having been one of the female leaders who has most closely supported what the Church of England has decided are "five guiding principles" governing the relationships between ordained women such as her and the priests or bishops who do not accept that women can be ordained at all.