The leader of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, finally gave in to the pressures and resigned in the aftermath of a damning public report that found that the Church had covered up the serial sexual abuse by a volunteer.
The independent so-called Makin review delved deeply into John Smyth’s decades of abuse of children and young men, and was published last week.
For fifty years, as many as 130 boys and young men were abused in the UK and Africa.
Smyth reportedly subjected his victims to ‘traumatic physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual attacks’, permanently marking their lives.
Sky News reported:
“The report concluded he might have been brought to justice had Mr. Welby formally reported it to police soon after he was installed as archbishop 11 years ago. Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while still under investigation by Hampshire Police.”
In his resignation letter, Welby said: “Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign.”
Other excerpts from the Welby letter:
“The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuse of John Smyth. 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 re-traumatizing period between 2013 and 2024.
The last few days have renewed my long-felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. For nearly 12 years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.
In the meantime, I will follow through on my commitment to meet victims. I will delegate all my other current responsibilities for safeguarding until the necessary risk assessment process is complete.”
King Charles, as the supreme governor of the Church of England, accepted the resignation of the man who crowned him on Tuesday morning.
Smyth’s victim Richard Gittins is ‘pleased’ Welby is resigning, ‘so that the focus can be turned on other people who knew and haven’t done anything about it’.
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