The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 8 letter word MOTHER SUPERIOR
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
M
O
T
H
E
R
S
U
P
E
R
I
O
R
More clues leading to the result MOTHER SUPERIOR
- Impure hero, sort mistakenly being made head of religious community
- Dad less good, we deduce, as a religious leader
- Our emperor’s vexed with this creature of habit
- Nun and hot prior resume fooling around
- Head of house? Presumably dad’s subordinate
- True, prior’s home is wrong for a leading nun
- One in the habit of bossing her sisters around?
- Giver and taker of orders, I’m first to read Porterhouse Blue?
- Religious person, male, one of two higher in rank
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "religious leader" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case religious leader = mother superior.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.