By Grâçia Ada Obi
The Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned Tuesday 12, November following criticism of his failure to prevent child sex abuse.
The Most Rev Justin Welby stood down after a damning report into his handling of the worst abuse scandal in the history of the Church of England.
An independent review found that “abhorrent abuse” by John Smyth, an evangelical Christian, could have been exposed four years earlier if the Archbishop had contacted the authorities.
The Archbishop said on Tuesday 12 November that it had become clear that he “must take personal and institutional responsibility” for the “long and retraumatising” period after he was informed of allegations in 2013, during which Smyth was not brought to justice, and survivors repeatedly failed by the Church.
But he quit this afternoon after senior colleagues joined criticism and more than 12,000 people signed a petition calling for him to resign, and PM Keir Starmer pointedly refused to back him.
The Bishop of Lincoln has also apologised amid calls for him to follow in the Archbishop’s footsteps for failing to act on child abuse allegations made against Smyth.
One of Smyth’s victims has urged the Rt Rev Stephen Conway to resign, “He was the person in a position to stop John Smyth, bring him to justice and he fundamentally failed”.
The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, said the Most Rev Welby’s decision “to take his share of responsibility for the failures identified by the Makin Review” was “the right and honourable thing to do”.
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 from the 1970s until his death aged 75 in 2018.
A lay reader who led Christian summer camps, Smyth died in Cape Town while under investigation by Hampshire Police and was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the review said.
The Archbishop became aware of the abuse in 2013 – three years before it was made public – but did not report Smyth to the police.
Just weeks before his resignation, the Archbishop of Canterbury told the Lord Speaker’s Corner podcast that covering up child abuse was a “dismissal offence” and the Church would take tough action against those seeking to protect “wicked people”.
The King is understood to have exchanged “private words” with the Archbishop of Canterbury on Tuesday morning, through aides, in which they discussed his resignation.
Meanwhile, Downing Street said the Prime Minister “respects the decision” of the Most Rev Justin Welby to step down, describing it as a “matter for the Church of England”.
