Tuesday, November 12, 2024 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has resigned after a report found the Church of England covered up sexual abuse by a barrister.
Welby, the senior bishop of the Church of England and
spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, had faced calls to resign
after a report last week found he had taken insufficient action to stop a
person it described as arguably the Church’s most prolific serial abuser.
In his resignation letter, Welby said he must take
"personal and institutional responsibility" for lack of action on the
"heinous abuses".
"The last few days have renewed my long felt and
profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of
England," Welby said.
"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."
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, the Church's
second-ranking cleric, called Welby’s resignation "the right and
honourable thing to do".
Welby, 68, resigned five days after the independent Makin
Report singled him out for criticism over his handling of abuse allegations
dating back to the 1970s.
The report said John Smyth, a British lawyer, had subjected
more than 100 boys and young men to "brutal and horrific" physical
and sexual abuse over a 40-year period.
Smyth beat some victims with up 800 strokes of a cane and
supplied nappies to absorb the bleeding, the report said. He would then drape
himself over his victims, sometimes kissing them on the neck or back.
Smyth was chair of the Iwerne Trust, which funded the
Christian camps in Dorset in England, and Welby worked at them as a dormitory
officer before he was ordained.
Smyth moved to Africa in 1984 and continued to carry out the
abuse until close to his death in 2018, the report said.
The Church of England knew at the highest level about the
sexual abuse claims at the camps in 2013 and Welby became aware, at the latest,
about the accusations in the same year, months after he became archbishop,
according to the report.
If the claims had been reported to the police in 2013, there
could have been a full investigation and Smyth might have faced charges before
he died, the report said.
Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under
investigation by Hampshire Police, and so was "never brought to justice
for the abuse", the review said.
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