The Archbishop of Canterbury-designate set out today on an 87-mile walking pilgrimage from London to Canterbury Cathedral, but will break her journey on Wednesday to return to Westminster to attend the House of Lords when peers vote abortion legislation.

The Most Rev Sarah Mullally, 63, accompanied by her husband Eamonn, began the six-day trek along the Becket Camino route from St Paul’s Cathedral, with stops planned at Southwark Cathedral, Lesnes Abbey, Rochester Cathedral, the Shrine of St Jude at Aylesford, and other churches and holy sites along the way. The pilgrimage — a first for any Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times — will conclude on Sunday 22 March with evensong at Canterbury Cathedral, three days before her formal installation on 25 March.

“As I prepare for my installation at Canterbury Cathedral, it feels deeply humbling to be following in the footsteps of those who have walked this ancient route,” Archbishop Mullally said. “I am looking forward to visiting local churches, cathedrals, and holy sites along the route and to meeting people, praying with them, and hearing their stories.”​

But the timing drew sharp criticism. While Archbishop Mullally walks, the House of Lords will vote on Wednesday 18 March on amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that would determine the fate of Clause 208 — the so-called Antoniazzi amendment, passed by MPs last June after just 46 minutes of backbench debate, which would remove criminal penalties for women who procure their own abortions at any stage of pregnancy, including up to and during birth.

Baroness Monckton has tabled Amendment 424 to strike Clause 208 from the bill entirely. Baroness Stroud has tabled Amendment 425 to reinstate mandatory in-person medical consultations before abortion pills can be prescribed, ending the “pills-by-post” scheme. If peers vote for the clause, it will become law.​

“The Archbishop of Canterbury will not be casting her vote on Wednesday,” Lois McLatchie-Miller noted pointedly in Premier Christianity, writing that bishops have “a significant opportunity this week to guide our nation toward more godly laws” and that their role as a moral voice in parliament “must be proven in moments of real moral consequence. This week is one of them.”​

Journalist Damian Thompson was blunter. “Spare us the ‘pilgrimage’ if you can’t be bothered to oppose infanticide, Dame Sarah,” he wrote on X.​

However, on 16 March 2026 the Lambeth Palace Press Office told Anglican.Ink:  “The Archbishop will be in the House of Lords on Wednesday to vote on the proposed amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. It will not affect the pilgrimage or its route …”.

Twenty-three Church of England bishops currently sit among the Lords Spiritual, and pro-life campaigners say they could make the difference between the amendments passing or failing. Right to Life UK has urged all 23 to clear their diaries for the vote, noting that “the bishops have not always been reliable in turning up and voting in favour of pro-life legislation” and that “typically, the bishops delegate one or two of their number to attend and vote in debates.”​

Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right to Life UK, said the clause was “deeply unpopular — only 1% of the public supports abortion up to birth” and called it “radical,” warning that “combined with the pills-by-post scheme,” it “would make our already extreme 24-week time limit effectively redundant for women who wish to abort late in pregnancy via easily obtained pills.”​

Baroness Monckton said the change “would seriously endanger women’s lives because of the risks of self-induced late-term abortions away from a clinical context, and likely lead to increased numbers of viable babies’ lives being ended.” Baroness Eaton said “neither abortion up to birth nor sex-selective abortion has any place in a civilised country.”​

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, John Sherrington, the bishops’ conference lead for life issues, issued a statement on Monday urging peers to back both amendments. “If not removed, this clause would represent a radical departure from our current law, further threatening the dignity of the unborn child,” Sherrington said. “This change would leave women more susceptible to coercion and abuse.”​

The controversy touches directly on questions about the archbishop-elect’s own views. Last October, after her appointment as Archbishop-designate was announced, she pushed back against being labelled “pro-choice,” telling the Church Times: “I recognise that I have sometimes been labelled as ‘pro-choice’ — possibly due to my background — but this is a nuanced issue, and my perspectives, along with those of others, cannot be easily classified.” Archbishop Mullally, a former Chief Nursing Officer for England and the Church of England’s lead bishop for health and social care, said she supported the Church’s principled stance against abortion but acknowledged “very limited circumstances” where it might be preferable. She warned that “decriminalising abortion could inadvertently undermine the value of unborn life, eroding the safeguards and legal restrictions,” and that women who had experienced coercion or domestic violence would be “particularly at risk.”​

The Church of England officially maintains a position of qualified opposition to abortion, affirming that human life is a gift from God deserving protection from its earliest beginnings while accepting the legal framework of the 1967 Abortion Act. The Church’s General Synod and its Mission and Public Affairs Council have repeatedly expressed concern about removing criminal sanctions, warning such changes could alter the moral and legal framework within which abortion is regulated.​

Critics have noted a further irony: the pilgrimage commemorates St Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury martyred in 1170 for defending the Church’s authority against the state. On Mothering Sunday, Archbishop Mullally released a video reflection on “The Three Mothers” icons by artist Regan O’Callaghan that hang outside her office, meditating on motherhood — even as Parliament prepared to debate the legal framework governing abortion.​

“A pilgrimage may be postponed, repeated, or undertaken at another time,” the Nuntiatoria observed. “A parliamentary division, once taken, cannot be recalled.”​

The Dean of Canterbury, the Very Rev David Monteith, and members of the Cathedral chapter will join the pilgrims for the final leg from Chartham village to Canterbury on Sunday. The installation service is scheduled for 25 March — the Feast of the Annunciation.