LONDON — The leader of the Church of England announced his resignation Tuesday after coming under intense pressure over his handling of a major child abuse scandal.
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had faced a storm of criticism following the publication last week of a damning report into the abuse of schoolboys by barrister John Smyth at evangelical Christian holiday camps in the 1970s and 80s.
The report found widespread failings in the church’s response — and directly challenged Welby’s account of how the institution had responded to the claims against Smyth, who died in 2018.
Survivors of abuse, politicians, and fellow bishops in the Church of England were among those who had called on Welby — who sits as a legislator in the U.K.’s House of Lords and has regularly weighed in on politics during his 11-year tenure — to quit.
In a statement Tuesday, Welby said he had “believed wrongly” that an “appropriate resolution” would follow when Church of England leaders were informed of a police investigation into Smyth in 2013.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatizing period between 2013 and 2024,” he 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 added.
Last week’s report into Smyth found that he had carried out “prolific, brutal and horrific” abuse of young boys, who had been subjected to “traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks.”
It said this had been identified as far back as the 1980s, but that church officers had taken part in a “cover-up,” failed to support Smyth’s victims, and allowed him to relocate to Zimbabwe and then South Africa unimpeded.
It said the Church of England knew “at the highest level” about the abuse from 2012, but that Smyth’s misconduct was not reported to police before his death in 2018.
Welby himself had volunteered at the camps in the 1970s but denied any knowledge of concerns about Smyth. The report said that while he “may not have known of the extreme seriousness of the abuse,” it was “most probable that he would have had at least a level of knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern.”
‘Conspiracy of silence’
The outgoing archbishop acknowledged Tuesday that the report had exposed the “long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.” He said he had “struggled to introduce improvements” to the Church of England’s safeguarding policies.
While Welby said the exact date of his departure is to be determined, he vowed to step back from all safeguarding responsibilities for the remainder of his time in post.
“I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honored to serve,” he added. “I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us.”
Welby’s decision comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer declined to give a full endorsement of him Tuesday.
Speaking at the COP climate summit in Azerbaijan, the U.K. leader said: “It’s a matter in the end for the church, but I’m not going to shy away from the fact that these are horrific allegations and that my thoughts are with the victims in relation to it.”
