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
Cuthbert of Canterbury to Canterbury during the 730s and 740s, which suggests that Mercian authority was expanding into Kent. Cuthbert was the recipient of a long letter from Boniface who complained about the lax morals of the clergy in the British Isles, and too much drinking of alcohol by the Anglo-Saxon bishops. Cuthbert also sent letters to Lull who was Archbishop of Mainz and a native of England. During Cuthbert's time as archbishop he no longer claimed authority over all of Britain, like his predecessor Theodore. Pope Gregory III in 735 had sent a pallium to the bishop of York, raising the see