THE Church of England will consecrate its first female bishop during a ceremony at York Minster later.
The Reverend Libby Lane, 48, will be ordained as the new Bishop of Stockport, in what she says will be a “profound and remarkable moment”.
The Church formally adopted legislation last November to allow women bishops.
The move, which ends a centuries-old tradition of exclusively male bishops, has continued to prompt divisions between some Anglicans.
Mrs Lane has been vicar of St Peter’s Hale and St Elizabeth’s Ashley, in Greater Manchester, since April 2007.