Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby RESIGNS over ‘heinous’ church abuse scandal
ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury Justin Welby has announced he will resign.
The Anglican bishop, 68, faced mounting pressure to quit over his handling of the John Smyth abuse case.
The Makin Review concluded that Smyth, a prolific abuser associated with the Church of England, might have faced justice had Mr Welby formally alerted authorities in 2013.
Smyth, who was a lay reader and led Christian summer camps, died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018.
He was under investigation by Hampshire Police and was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the review published last week said.
Mr Welby has acknowledged the review found that he had “personally failed to ensure” it was “energetically investigated”.
In a statement issued by Lambeth Palace, Mr Welby said: “Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.
“When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.
“It is my duty to honour my constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.
“I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church.
“As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.
“The last few days have renewed my long-felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England.
“For nearly 12 years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.
“In the meantime, I will follow through on my commitment to meet victims.
Starmer heaps pressure on Welby to quit
SIR KEIR Starmer heaped more pressure on Justin Welby to quit after calling the attacks by a serial predator “horrific”.
The Prime Minister intervened in Church of England scandal with mounting calls for the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign.
Speaking at the COP climate change conference he said the victims had been “failed very, very badly”.
Sir Keir said: “Let me be clear: of what I know of the allegations, they are clearly horrific in relation to this particular case, both in their scale and their content.
“My thoughts, as they are in all of these issues, are with the victims here who have obviously been failed very, very badly.
“It’s a matter, in the end, for the church, but I’m not going to shy away from the fact of saying that these are horrific allegations and that my thoughts are with the victims in relation to it.”
“I will delegate all my other current responsibilities for safeguarding until the necessary risk assessment process is complete.”
This comes after private words were exchanged between King and Archbishop before Starmer’s statement this morning.
However, the conversation was between intermediaries and they did not speak directly or meet in person.
Public words from King Charles about Mr Welby will be released when he officially leaves his role, rather than after his resignation.
This is not a snub, but the process and protocol.
Mr Welby knew Smyth because of his attendance at Iwerne Christian camps in the 1970s.
But the review said there was no evidence that he had “maintained any significant contact” with the barrister in later years.
The 105th Archbishop of Canterbury said he had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse” before 2013.
Over five decades between the 1970s until his death, Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives.
The report said Smyth “could and should have been formally reported to the police in the UK, and to authorities in South Africa (church authorities and potentially the police) by church officers, including a diocesan bishop and Justin Welby in 2013”.
When the Makin report was published, Mr Welby admitted he had considered resigning but decided not to after taking advice from “senior colleagues”.