First female head of Church in Wales elected

Stephen Price

A new Archbishop of Wales has been elected today, 30 July 2025 – the first female to hold the title, bringing with her a hope for ‘healing and reconciliation’.

Cherry Vann who has served as the Bishop of Monmouth for the past five years, has been chosen as the 15th Archbishop of Wales.

She succeeds Bishop Andrew John who retired in July after three and a half years as the leader of the Church in Wales, which ended following a period of turbulence.

Archbishop Cherry was elected having secured a two-thirds majority vote from members of the Electoral College on the second day of its meeting at the St Pierre Church and Hotel in Chepstow. The election was confirmed by the other diocesan bishops and announced by the Senior Bishop, Bishop Gregory Cameron of St Asaph. Archbishop Cherry will be enthroned at Newport Cathedral in due course. As Archbishop she will continue to serve as Bishop of Monmouth.

“Trust”

Originally from Leicestershire, Archbishop Cherry Vann was consecrated as Bishop of Monmouth in 2020. Cherry was ordained as a deacon in 1989.

She was then among the first women to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1994. She then served as Archdeacon of Rochdale, in the Diocese of Manchester, for 11 years.

She said: “The first thing I shall need to do is to ensure that the issues which have been raised in the last six months are properly addressed and that I work to bring healing and reconciliation, and to build a really good level of trust across the Church and the communities the Church serves.”

“Stability”

The Very Revd Ian Black, Dean of Newport welcomed the news on behalf of the Diocese of Monmouth.

He said: “Cherry is the right person for this moment in the Church in Wales’ life. She has the skills and vision that we need to restore trust following some very public failings.

She has brought stability to the Diocese of Monmouth, managing the change to ministry areas with clarity and purpose, showing deep care for the clergy and people. This foundation will be a good base as she leads the Province over the next few years.

She has a deep faith, which is also open to those who take a different view to her, and this has impressed those people enormously.

I look forward to supporting her as Dean of her Cathedral. One of our duties and pleasures here is to pray for the bishop every day and we will continue to do so gladly.”

Safeguarding review

The previous Archbishop of Wales, Andy John, resigned after members of a leading Church in Wales body said they had lost confidence in his leadership.

Mr John’s departure followed the publication of a safeguarding review at Bangor Cathedral, which identified “a culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred” and “promiscuity was acceptable”.

There has been no suggestion that Mr John behaved inappropriately.

Mr John commissioned two reports into the North Wales cathedral in October last year.

A summary of a report shared on the Church in Wales’ website said there were also reports of “inappropriate language, rude jokes and innuendos in the choir that left some feeling unsafe and marginalised”.

Inappropriate language was also used in front of younger members of the choir and at times caused “humiliation to some”, the report’s authors were told.

Other issues raised included the presence of hurtful gossip, a poor safeguarding approach and weak financial controls.