1st woman bishop named for Church of England
The first woman bishop to serve in the Church of England was named Wednesday, in a historic step that follows years of sometimes contentious debate, CNN reported.
Downing Street announced that the Rev. Libby Lane, who was been a priest since 1994, will be the new Bishop of Stockport, in northern England. She will be consecrated as a bishop on January 26.
Her appointment brings to a close a thorny chapter in the church's recent history.
Women have been able to serve as priests in the Church of England since the early 1990s. But some traditionalists resisted the move to allow them to become bishops, culminating in it being narrowly voted down in 2012 by the General Synod, the three-times-a-year meeting that sets policies for the church.
Two years earlier, the church's governing body had narrowly rejected a measure, aimed at satisfying conservatives, that would have allowed parishes that opposed women bishops to have an additional male bishop.
A revised proposal was finally approved by Church of England leaders last month.