Calls mount for Anglican church head to resign over abuse scandal
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) The leader of the world’s Anglican communion on Tuesday faced further calls to resign, as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said victims of a Church of England-linked abuser had been “failed very, very badly”.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has been under growing pressure to quit after a damning report published last week concluded the Church of England had covered up the serial abuse case.
The scandal dates back to the 1970s, but the independent probe found Welby “could and should” have formally reported the wrongdoing to authorities in 2013, when he claims to have learned about it.
A petition demanding he resign, launched in the wake of the revelations, has garnered more than 12,000 signatures while leading clergy, including some bishops, have urged him to resign.
Asked whether Welby should stand down, Starmer said Tuesday it was “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,” he added.
“My thoughts, as they are with all of these issues, are with the victims here, who have obviously been failed very, very badly.”
The independent Makin Review concluded that John Smyth, a lawyer who organised evangelical summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, was responsible for “prolific, brutal and horrific” abuse of as many as 130 boys and young men.
It found the Church of England — the mother church of Anglicanism — covered up the abuse, which occurred in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa over several decades.
Smyth, who lived in Africa from 1984, died aged 75 in South Africa in 2018 while under investigation by British police. He never faced any criminal charges.
Appointed the Church of England’s highest-ranking cleric in 2013, Welby said last week he was “deeply sorry that this abuse happened” and that he “had no idea or suspicion of this abuse” before then.
He told Britain’s Channel 4 News that he had considered resigning but decided not to.
“If I’d known before 2013 or had grounds for suspicion, that would be a resigning matter then and now. But I didn’t,” he said.
Welby has not publicly commented on the growing furore since then.
