Justin Welby resigns as archbishop of Canterbury over abuse scandal

Welby announces he is stepping down after an independent report finds he failed to tell police about abuse allegations.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the most senior cleric in the Church of England, has announced his resignation, saying he had failed to ensure a proper investigation into allegations of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.

In his resignation letter on Tuesday, Welby said he must take “personal and institutional responsibility” for a 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,” he said.

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.

Britain’s King Charles III, right, and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby attend a reception of faith leaders at the new Lambeth Palace Library in London [File: James Manning/Pool via Reuters]

The report found that John Smyth, a British lawyer, had subjected more than 100 boys and young men to “brutal and horrific” abuse over a 40-year period.

Smyth beat some victims with up to 800 strokes of a cane and supplied nappies to absorb the bleeding, the report said.

He would then drape himself over the victims, sometimes kissing them on the neck or back.

Smyth was the chairman of the Iwerne Trust, which funded the Christian camps in Dorset in England, which is where Welby worked as a dormitory officer before he was ordained.

The report said Smyth moved to Africa in 1984 and continued to carry out the abuse in Zimbabwe and South Africa until close to his death in 2018.

‘Failures and omissions’

The report said the Church of England at its highest level knew about the sexual abuse claims at the camps in 2013, and Welby found out about the accusations in the same year, months after he had become archbishop.

Welby apologised for “failures and omissions” but said he had “no idea or suspicion” of the allegations before 2013. The report concluded this was unlikely, accusing him of failing in his “personal and moral responsibility” to ensure a proper investigation.

It added that 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.

Church procedures for the appointment of a new archbishop of Canterbury require a body of clerics and a chairperson nominated by the British prime minister to put two names forward to him.

Bishop of Norwich Graham Usher and Bishop of Chelmsford Guli Francis-Dehqani have been tipped to succeed Welby and become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury.

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