Rwandan Bishop Laurent Mbanda, newly elected leader of the Global Anglican Council, looks on in Abuja on March 5, 2026. Members of GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference), a conservative wing of the Anglican Church, announced the creation of a Global Anglican Council on March 5, 2026 in Abuja, in response to the appointment of British national Sarah Mullally as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury. (Photo by Light Oriye Tamunotonye / AFP) Conservative Anglican bishops who oppose the Church of England for the first time appointing a woman as its head said Thursday they had created a new body to lead them. The Global Anglican Future Conference, or Gafcon, named Laurent Mbanda, the archbishop of Rwanda, as the chairman of the new council in Nigeria’s capital Abuja. Sarah Mullally, ...