Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned on Tuesday after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about a series of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps once he arrived. He became aware of this.
Pressure on Welby has increased since Thursday, when the publication of the investigation’s findings sparked anger over the lack of accountability at the highest levels of the church.
“It is abundantly clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and shocking period between 2013 and 2024,” Welby said in the statement announcing his resignation. He added: “I believe that stepping down is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I love very much and which I have been honored to serve.”
Helen Anne Hartley, Bishop of Newcastle, said on Monday Welby’s position was “untenable” after some members of the Church’s National Assembly presented a petition calling for him to step down because he had “lost the confidence of the clergy”.
But the loudest cry came from the victims of the late John Smith, a prominent lawyer who abused teenagers and young adults in Christian summer camps in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa over five decades. Andrew Morse, who was repeatedly beaten by Smith over five years, said the resignation was Lilby’s opportunity to begin repairing the damage caused by the church’s handling of historical abuse issues more broadly.
“I think this is a good opportunity for him to resign,” Morse told the BBC before Welby stepped down. “I say opportunity in the sense that this will be an opportunity for him to stand with the victims of Smith’s abuse and all the victims who have not been treated properly by the Church of England in their abuse cases.”
Get breaking national news
For news affecting Canada and around the world, sign up to get breaking news alerts delivered to you right as they happen.
Welby’s resignation comes against the backdrop of widespread historical sexual abuse in the Church of England. A 2022 report by the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse concluded that respect for the authority of clergy, taboos surrounding discussion of sexuality, and a culture that offered more support to alleged perpetrators than to their victims, helped make the Church of England “a place where abusers could commit sexual crimes.” “. “Hides.”
Welby’s supporters said he had been instrumental in changing the church’s culture since becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013.
But it was the investigation into crimes that began long before that date that ultimately led to his downfall.
On Thursday, the church published the results of an independent investigation into Smith, who sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa starting in the 1970s.
The 251-page McCain Review concluded that Welby failed to report Smith to authorities when he was informed of the abuse in August 2013, shortly after he became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Last week, Welby took responsibility for not ensuring that the charges were pursued as “actively” as they should have been after he learned of the violations, but said he had decided not to resign.
On Monday, Welby’s office issued a statement reiterating that position and expressing his “horror at the scale of the flagrant violations committed by John Smith.”
Church officials were first informed of the abuse in 1982, when they received the results of an internal investigation into Smith. McCain’s review found that recipients of that report “engaged in an active cover-up” to prevent its findings from coming to light.
Smith moved to Zimbabwe in 1984 and later moved to South Africa. He continued to assault boys and young people in Zimbabwe, and there is evidence that the attacks continued in South Africa until his death in August 2018.
Smith’s abuse was not made public until an investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 in 2017, prompting police in Hampshire to launch an investigation. Police were planning to question Smith at the time of his death and were preparing to extradite him.
Stephen Cherry, dean of the church at King’s College Cambridge, said Welby could no longer represent the people.
“There are circumstances where something happens where a person in a senior leadership position loses the confidence and ability to do that really wonderful thing that someone like the Archbishop does, which is to publicly represent everyone at a given moment,” Cherry told the BBC before Welby’s resignation.
“And the pain in the victim community and the history of not listening to people and not responding to people who have been deeply harmed by those in positions of power means that this is no longer a person who can assume the representative role of that position.”
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
