Archbishop of Canterbury Welby resigns over abuse cover-up: ‘You are left reeling’
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The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has resigned, saying he must take “personal and institutional responsibility” for the cover up of a prolific child abuser.
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In brief
- The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has resigned after an independent review found that the Church of England covered up the crimes of its worst ever abuser, John Smyth.
- Welby may have had at least some knowledge of the abuse as early as 2013, but did not take sufficient action to stop it.
- The News Agents say it is shocking that a powerful public figure knew about this for so long, leaving the Church of England with “serious questions” to answer.
What’s the story?
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has resigned after failing to pursue a man believed to have abused over 130 children.
Members of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, have said Welby let child abuse continue under his leadership, and “could and should” have put an end to it if he chose to act.
Calls for his resignation exploded after an independent review published last week found that the Church of England (C of E.) covered up the crimes of its worst ever abuser - John Smyth.
The review, led by Keith Makin, said: “John Smyth was an appalling abuser of children and young men.
“His abuse was prolific, brutal and horrific. His victims were subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks. The impact of that abuse is impossible to overstate and has permanently marked the lives of his victims.”
Smyth, who died in 2018, was a powerful barrister and chair of the Iwerne Trust.
The trust funded evangelical Christian holiday camps, which Welby himself volunteered at in the 1970s and early 1980s.
From 2013, the Makin reports says, “the Church of England knew at the highest level about the abuse that took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s.”
It came after one of Smyth’s victims reported his abuse to the C of E. and senior figures in the organisation, including Welby.
Despite the church learning of the abuse, Welby later travelled to South Africa, where the abuse continued.
The report reads: “[Welby] may not have known of the extreme seriousness of the abuse, but it is most probable that he would have had at least a level of knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern … It is not possible to establish whether Welby knew of the severity of the abuses in the UK prior to 2013.”
In his resignation statement Welby said: "When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow."
It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024”
'A conspiracy of silence in the Anglican church'
What happens next?
Colm O’Gorman, Irish activist and survivor of clerical sexual abuse, is worried that a resignation could be a distraction from what really needs to happen next.
“Heads on plates don't very often bring an awful lot of lighter transparency,” he says on today’s episode of The News Agents.
He says getting to the truth of what happened is more important. And therefore, it could have been more useful for Welby to remain in his post.
“I’d have some concern that the resignation becomes the story rather than the reason for the resignation.”
“My own view would be that, whilst I understand the resignation, it might have been better for the Archbishop to remain in place for a period of time until he drove through the kind of transparency around this case, or indeed any other cases that might emerge, and then, if necessary, step aside.”
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey, said he was left “horrified” by the report, and told Emily and Lewis that the Church of England needs to work on rebuilding trust.
“We’ve talked about public trust being rebuilt in our institutions and in politics, and you know, it's clearly going to have to be rebuilt in the Church of England.”
As well as regaining trust, Lewis questions whether there’s a risk that whoever Welby’s successor as Archbishop is, won’t be able to speak with the same moral authority that perhaps other Archbishops have enjoyed before.“I don't think that necessarily follows,” Davey says.
“And it would be really bad for not just the church but the country, if church leaders, faith based leaders, didn't have that authority.”
Ed Davey: Church sex scandal 'takes your breath away'
What’s The News Agents take?
“You are left, once again, reeling at how such a public figure could have known [about this] for so long” says Emily Maitlis.
She adds: “2013 was the year after the Jimmy Savile scandal broke. We were highly aware of cover-ups in major institutions at the time.”
The abuse started long ago, Emily notes, at Winchester College and at church summer camps. But when his abuse was discovered by the church, he was exported to South Africa a year later.
Emilly adds: “He carried on abusing until he died. I think that is the point at which you're left jaw dropped… The institution of the church thought the right response was not to go after this man or to expose it, or to stop it, but just to send it away.”
Lewis Goodall says that the Makin report has left senior leadership in the Church of England, up to and including Welby, with “serious questions to answer”.
But they had not answered them “satisfactorily at all”.
Welby, Lewis notes, was an outspoken voice on political issues and a “thorn in the side” of the previous Conservative government.
“I wouldn't be surprised if after this, we see whoever the successor is, at least for a while, having something of a quieter public profile,” he says.
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