John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York.
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the Province of York, which covers the northern regions of England (north of the Trent) as well as the Isle of Man.
The archbishop's throne (cathedra) is in York Minster in central York and the official residence is Bishopthorpe Palace in the village of Bishopthorpe outside York. The current archbishop is Stephen Cottrell, since the confirmation of his election on 9 July 2020.
John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Baron Sentamu, (; Luganda: [sːéːntámû]; born 10 June 1949) is a retired Anglican bishop and life peer. He was Archbishop of York, metropolitan of York, and Primate of England until 7 June 2020.
Born near Kampala in Uganda, Sentamu studied law at Makerere University before gaining employment as an advocate of the Supreme Court of Uganda. Speaking out against the regime of President Idi Amin, he was briefly imprisoned before fleeing in 1974 to the United Kingdom, where he devoted himself to Anglicanism, beginning his study of theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge in 1976 and eventually gaining a doctorate in 1984. He studied for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and was ordained in 1979. In 1996 he was consecrated as the area bishop of Stepney and in 2002 moved to the position of bishop of Birmingham. In 2005 he was appointed to the position of archbishop of York.
He has also received attention for his vocal criticism of former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
He was left out of the first list of new peerages following his resignation as Archbishop, but it was announced in December 2020 that Sentamu would be created a crossbench life peer in the second 2020 Political Honours list.