Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Queen Elizabeth II approved the appointment of the first female bishop in the Church of England after a campaign that started in 1975, and 22 years after women were allowed to become priests.

Libby Lane, 48, will become Bishop of Stockport in northwest England, Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said in a statement today. The government will introduce legislation tomorrow to enable women bishops to take up seats in the upper, unelected chamber of Parliament, in line with their male counterparts.

“This is an historic appointment and an important step forward for the church towards greater equality in its senior positions,” Cameron said. “The government is playing its part too by bringing forward legislation this week that will allow women bishops to sit in the House of Lords.”

Lane’s appointment follows a vote by the church’s governing Synod in July, which backed women bishops after narrowly rejected them two years earlier. The appointment of bishops has to be approved by the queen, who is supreme governor of the church.

“This is unexpected and very exciting,” Lane said at an event to mark her appointment in Stockport Town Hall, according to extracts posted on the Church of England website. “I am very conscious of all those who have gone before me, women and men, who for decades have looked forward to this moment.”

Lane will be consecrated as Bishop of Stockport in a ceremony at York Minster on Jan. 26.

There are places for 26 bishops in the Lords, which go to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of Durham, London and Winchester. The other 21 seats are currently allocated to the bishops who have held office longest.