Archbishop of Canterbury Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justin Welby, who was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013. Welby is the 105th in a line which goes back more than 1400 years to Augustine of Canterbury, the "Apostle to the English", sent from Rome in the year 597. Welby succeeded Rowan Williams. From the time of Augustine until the 16th century, the Archbishops of Canterbury were
Primacy of Canterbury gave him a Bull releasing him and his successors from the supremacy of Canterbury. From time to time during the reign of Henry II and succeeding kings the quarrel broke out again, until Pope Innocent VI (1352–62) settled it. He did so by confirming an arrangement that the Archbishop of Canterbury should take precedence with the title 'Primate of All England', but that the Archbishop of York should retain the style of 'Primate of England'. Each prelate was to carry his metropolitical cross in the province of the other, and if they were together their cross-bearers should walk abreast. The