Portal:Anglicanism/Selected article/8
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the established Church of England and, symbolically, of the worldwide Anglican Communion. From the time of St Augustine until the the 16th century, the Archbishops of Canterbury were in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. During the English Reformation the church broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, at first temporarily and later more permanently. Since then they have been outside of the succession of the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy and have led the independent national church.
In the middle ages there was considerable variation in the nomination of the Archbishop and other bishops — at various times the choice was made by the canons of Canterbury Cathedral, the King of England, or the Pope. Since the reformation, the church is explicitly a state church and the choice is legally that of the British crown; today it is made in the name of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom by the Prime Minister, from a shortlist of two selected by an ad hoc committee called the Crown Nominations Commission.
