Church of England leader Welby urged to quit over abuse cover-up

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the global Anglican church, faced mounting calls to resign on Monday over a report that his institution had covered up prolific abuse of boys and young men.

In office since 2013, Welby apologised last week after the report described a barrister who ran summer camps for young Christians, John Smyth, as the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church of England, as it is also known.

Welby said he had “no idea or suspicion” of the allegations before 2013, but the independent report concluded that it was unlikely he would have had no knowledge of the concerns regarding Smyth in the 1980s.

Helen-Ann Hartley, one of the church’s 108 bishops, became the most senior person in the institution to call for Welby to resign when she said on Monday his position was now untenable.

A petition calling for his departure – started by three members of the Church’s governing body, the General Synod – has received over 2,900 signatures.

“It’s very hard for the church … to continue to have a moral voice in any way, shape, or form in our nation when we cannot get our own house in order with regard to something that’s critically important,” Hartley said.

Smyth, who died in 2018, was held responsible for the violent abuse of at least 115 children and young men in England, Zimbabwe and South Africa, including caning.

Welby has apologised for “failures and omissions” in not properly investigating the claims, especially after a documentary by Britain’s Channel 4 in 2017 revealed the full extent of the abuse.

“I am so sorry that in places where these young men, and boys, should have felt safe and where they should have experienced God’s love for them, they were subjected to physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse,” he said in a statement last week.

Welby, spiritual leader to 85 million Christians worldwide, has led the church during a period of major upheaval, forced to navigate a schism over homosexual rights and women clerics between liberal churches in North America and Britain, and their conservative counterparts, especially in Africa.

A conservative group of Anglican church leaders declared last year that they no longer had confidence in Welby, saying he had betrayed his ordination, after the church set out plans to allow priests to bless same-sex couples in church, while still not allowing them to marry in church.

The 68-year-old has also been criticised for commenting on government policies including the former Conservative government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Welby told Channel 4 on Thursday he had considered resigning, but reiterated that he had not known about the abuse. In his apology he said the review was clear that he had personally failed to ensure proper investigations.