By Rob Harris
London: The archbishop of Canterbury has resigned after intense pressure over his role in the Church of England’s failure to halt years of sexual and physical attacks carried out by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.
Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, had faced calls to quit 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.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at Buckingham Palace in 2023.Credit: AP
An independent review criticised him for showing a “distinct lack of curiosity” in ensuring that abuse allegations against John Smyth, a prominent barrister and a man that Welby had known three decades earlier from Christian camps, were properly investigated.
“Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury,” Welby said in a statement.
“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.”
Welby’s resignation ends an at times controversial 11-year tenure, which oversaw the introduction of female bishops and years-long debate in the church over how to treat same-sex marriage. He became an impassioned voice on issues such as migration and presided over public ceremonies such as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and the coronation of King Charles.
But Welby struggled to hold together a church increasingly split between progressives and traditionalists. He was ultimately brought down by the type of sex abuse scandals that have toppled leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.
The 68-year-old had initially said last week that he had decided not to resign, but pressure steadily mounted following a decision from three members of the church’s ruling body, the General Synod, to launch a petition for him to exit gained more than 10,000 signatures by Tuesday.
Welby said that when he was informed in 2013 about the “heinous abuses” carried out by Smyth, he was told that the police had been notified and he believed “wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow”.
He added that an independent review into the church’s handling of the allegations about Smyth by Keith Makin, a former director of social services, had exposed a “long-maintained conspiracy of silence”.
The late Church of England official John Smyth.Credit: Channel 4 News
Makin’s report detailed the brutal abuse of more than 130 boys and young men committed by Smyth over 40 years, starting at Christian summer camps in Hampshire in the 1970s and continuing in Zimbabwe, where he settled in 1984, and South Africa, where he lived until his death in 2018.
Welby attended the Iwerne Christian summer camps in Hampshire where Smyth began physically and sexually abusing boys and young men in the 1970s and made donations to similar camps the barrister ran after moving to Africa.
Makin’s report gave an account of Welby’s long-standing acquaintance with Smyth and said he had been warned about his character. But it found no evidence the archbishop was aware of the severity of Smyth’s abuses at the time. Welby said the exact timing of when he would stand down and be replaced would now be reviewed.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024,” Welby said, adding that his stepping aside was “in the best interests of the church”.
“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.”
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
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