Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigns over Church abuse scandal
Justin Welby has resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury following widespread outrage over his failure to pursue a serial child abuser when allegations were brought to his attention.
In a statement put out by the Lambeth Palace press office, Welby said that he was “stepping aside in the best interests of the Church of England”.
“Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury,” he said.
Calls for the Archbishop to step down had been mounting since last week when an investigation into barrister John Smyth, believed to have been the most prolific abuser associated with the Church of England, found Welby had failed to rigorously followe up on reports of Smyth’s abuse.
Smyth, who ran summer camps for young Christians in the 1980s and 90s, subjected as many as 130 boys and young men to “brutal and horrific” sexual, physical, psychological and spiritual attacks over five decades.
The review into the Church’s handling of Smyth’s case concluded that Welby “could and should” have reported allegations to authorities when he was presented with them in 2013.
It found that he had at least “some knowledge of the concerns” about Smyth in the early 1980s and showed a “distinct lack of curiosity” about allegations when they surfaced in 2013. Welby apologised for not ensuring the reports were “energetically investigated” in 2013 but said he had no prior knowledge of the abuse.
On Monday, Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, called Welby’s position “untenable” and said the Church risked “losing complete credibility” if he remained in post.
Members of the Church of England‘s ruling body, the General Synod, launched a petition calling on Welby to quit. By Monday afternoon, it had amassed more than 2,900 signatures.
Robert Thompson, who launched the petition, said: “This is a build-up of multiple, serial reports on cases of abuse and how the church has dealt with them. There is real disgust that we have had report after report, apology after apology, and nothing has changed.
“It’s not just about Welby, it’s about the culture in the church. But Welby has lost the confidence of a significant number of clergy in the C of E. The bishop of Newcastle represents the views of other bishops who don’t want to speak out.”
Following the report’s publication, Welby said that he had been giving resignation “a lot of thought for actually quite a long time” but had decided to remain in his role.
“No, I am not going to resign,” he said.
Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop’s headquarters, said in a statement on Monday that Welby had “apologised profoundly both for his own failures and omissions, and for the wickedness, concealment and abuse by the church more widely”.
“The archbishop reiterates his horror at the scale of John Smyth’s egregious abuse, as reflected in his public apology.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
