The Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned, days after a damning report into a prolific child abuser associated with the Church of England
In his resignation statement, Justin Welby said the report “exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth”
He said when he was told in 2013 that police had been notified, “I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow”
Smyth was not brought to justice before his death in South Africa in 2018.
Last week, Justin Welby insisted that he would not resign after giving it “a lot of thought”.
In a statement on Thursday, the Archbishop of Canterbury said he was “deeply sorry that this abuse happened” and “sorry that concealment by many people who were fully aware of the abuse over many years meant that John Smyth was able to abuse overseas and died before he ever faced justice”.
Justin Welby added: “I had no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013.”
The Makin report into Smyth’s abuse is a “very important step on the way to a safer church,” said Welby.
But today, in his resignation statement, he wrote: “I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.
“For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.
“I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve.”