Archbishop of Canterbury resigns over handling of abuse cases

CNA Staff, Nov 12, 2024 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby announced his resignation on Tuesday, saying he takes “personal and institutional responsibility” for the mishandling of a number of high-profile abuse cases in the Anglican Church since taking the reigns in 2013.

“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, who was chosen as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury in 2012, said in a statement.

Though not accused of abuse himself, Welby was criticized for his response to a number of abuse cases within the church he led. Calls for Welby’s resignation reached a fever pitch in recent days, led by victims of a notorious Anglican serial sexual abuser, John Smyth. 

A prominent attorney who volunteered at Christian summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, the deceased Smyth was later found to have committed physical abuse, sexual abuse, and psychological coercion against over 100 boys and young men across multiple countries.  

A highly anticipated 253-page Nov. 7 report written by independent reviewer Keith Makin offered a stinging indictment of Welby’s handling of the Smyth case. 

According to the report, Smyth crossed paths with Welby during the time Smyth was perpetrating his abuse. Welby insisted the two were never close, despite the two exchanging Christmas cards for a time and Welby making minor donations to Smyth’s missions in Zimbabwe. 

Other church officials were reportedly made aware of Smyth’s abuse as early as 1982. In 2013, after taking office as archbishop, Welby was verbally informed of Smyth’s abuse but said he mistakenly believed that police and local authorities had been informed and chose to take no further action, the report says.

The report also faults the Church of England itself for failing to prioritize safeguarding despite having formal safeguarding policies, saying those policies’ implementation was inconsistent and often inadequate.

“Welby suggests that he would have definitely been ‘more active’ had he known of the seriousness of the offenses in 2013. The evidence contained in this review suggests enough was known to have raised concerns upon being informed in 2013,” the report states.

“Our opinion … is that Justin Welby held a personal and moral responsibility to pursue this further, whatever the policies at play at the time required.”

Following the release of a 2017 documentary that publicly revealed Smyth’s abuse, Welby issued a statement and gave interviews expressing his concern for the victims, who felt Welby’s response was delayed and did not prioritize their needs. He eventually met with some victims in 2021 and issued a public apology on behalf of the church.

Welby, in his statement, said the calls for his resignation in recent days following the publication of the Makin report “renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England.”

He asked for prayers for his wife, Caroline, and their six children.

“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. I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us,” he concluded.

Further contextualizing Welby’s resignation is a reckoning in recent years over child abuse in the U.K., with a 2022 independent inquiry uncovering consistent and widespread failures across various institutions, including the Church of England, to adequately protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

That report faulted the church for repeatedly prioritizing its reputation over the well-being of children and a tendency to minimize the seriousness of the offenses, and noted that safeguarding arrangements within the church were severely under-resourced until 2015, when resources were significantly increased under Welby’s leadership.

As head of the Church of England, Welby weathered considerable resistance from conservative Anglican leaders after he presided over the Church of England’s governing body in early 2023 voting to bless same-sex couples.

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), which claims to represent as much as 75% of the world’s Anglicans, issued a statement at the time accusing the Church of England of breaking communion with the provinces who remain faithful to a biblical view of marriage as being between one man and one woman. Debates over same-sex marriage had simmered within Anglicanism for decades, and the Anglican Communion was significantly fractured in 2003 when the U.S.-based Episcopal Church voted to ordain a gay man in a same-sex relationship.

During his tenure, Welby participated in several ecumenical meetings and activities with Pope Francis.

During summer 2023, the pope traveled with Welby and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields, on a “pilgrimage of peace” to South Sudan. Meeting with roughly 2,500 South Sudanese refugees on Feb. 4, 2023, the Protestant leaders joined Pope Francis for a final blessing on the participants. They later appeared together at an ecumenical prayer service that attracted about 50,000 people.

In January, Welby celebrated an Anglican liturgy in the Catholic Basilica of St. Bartholomew, located on Tiber Island in Rome’s Tiber River, as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Welby also celebrated an ecumenical second vespers with Pope Francis for the solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.