Il Nuovo Postiglione - First female Archbishop of Canterbury to meet Pope Leo

Mullally will meet the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics during a four-day visit starting Saturday, her first abroad since being enthroned last month as the Church of England's top cleric.

The audience comes 60 years after a historic meeting in 1966 between then archbishop Michael Ramsey and pope Paul VI, the first at that level since the Church of England was created in the 16th century, when king Henry VIII broke with Rome.

Relations have been steadily improving since although in 2016 their successors noted "new disagreements", particularly on the ordination of the women -- making Mullally's visit a significant moment.

The 63-year-old former nurse, who is married with two children, is the first woman to lead the mother church of the world's 85-million strong Anglican community.

The first female Anglican bishops were appointed in the United States in 1989, and they have been allowed in the Church of England since 2014, although the issue remains divisive.

By contrast the Catholic Church has repeatedly rejected the idea of female priests, while male priests also cannot marry -- with the exception of married Anglican priests who want to convert.

Campaigners for women's rights, who had hoped for progress under former Pope Francis before his death last year, welcomed the archbishop's visit.

"If a female archbishop comes to see him, it might give Pope Leo XIV pause for thought," Sylvaine Landrivon, spokeswoman for Catholic feminist association Magdala, told AFP.

"He might realise that women, who represent half of God's people, have the same abilities as men."

- 'United Christian community' -

The visit, in which Mullally will also meet with members of the Catholic community, comes six months after King Charles III became the first supreme governor of the Church of England to pray with a pontiff.

In a letter marking her enthronement, Leo -- himself new in the job, marking one year as pope on May 8, expressed his hope of a "reconciled, fraternal and united Christian community".

Bishop Anthony Ball, the archbishop's representative to the Holy See, told AFP the meeting was "an important opportunity to build and establish a personal relationship" as well as mark the institutional ties.

Mullally praised the pope's "courageous call" for peace earlier this month after US President Donald Trump criticised the pontiff's calls for an end to the Middle East war.

The archbishop and the pope face many common challenges, Ball noted, from pressing social issues such as immigration, poverty, war and the environment, to the question of how to engage with younger people.

Their churches have also both been rocked by clerical child sexual abuse and its cover up. Mullally's predecessor, Justin Welby, quit over failures in handling an abuse scandal.

Internal unity is also under pressure in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church, amid tensions between conservative and progressive factions on issues such as liturgy, gay marriage and priestly celibacy.

- 'Careful listeners' -

Mullally's appointment was deeply divisive within the Anglican Communion, both because of her sex and also her positive stance towards same-sex marriage.

Several conservative African archbishops, who have for years been at odds with their more liberal Western counterparts, strongly criticised the choice.

Ball said he expected Pope Leo to be "respectful" of the archbishop's appointment -- and for her not to press the issue of women in the Church.

"I think she will be resistant to being co-opted into somebody else's agenda, particularly in another church that isn't her own," he said.

"She's got more than enough on her plate with the Anglican Communion."

Leo also inherited from pope Francis a church divided over key social challenges.

During his 12-year papacy, the charismatic Argentine reformer often riled traditionalists, particularly in the US and Africa, with his efforts to open up the Catholic Church.

Ball said both Mullally and Pope Leo had so far proved to be "quite careful listeners".

Leo is "taking his time to listen to people, to hear, and to try and discern ways of ensuring that people can move forward together. And I think Archbishop Sarah is similar in that regard", he said.

D.Ricci--INP