The leader of the world’s Anglican communion faced growing pressure today to resign after a damning report which concluded the Church of England had covered up a serial abuse case.
Three members of the General Synod, the Church’s national assembly, have started a petition demanding that Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby quit in the wake of the revelations, reports AFP.
•The embattled Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby
It found the Church had repeatedly failed to act over “abhorrent” abuse carried out by John Smyth, a lawyer who organised evangelical summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s.
He is believed to have attacked as many as 130 boys and young men at his home in southern England after grooming them at the camps, which would make Smyth the most prolific known serial abuser associated with the Church.
The findings of the long-awaited independent review into the case found that Welby “could and should” have formally reported the abuse to authorities in 2013, when he claimed to have first learned of it.
Smyth died aged 75 in South Africa in 2018 while under investigation by British police and never faced any criminal charges.
Welby, the Church of England’s highest-ranking cleric, said last week he was “deeply sorry that this abuse happened” and that he “had no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013” when he became archbishop.
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 told the broadcaster.
However, the petition by three members of the General Synod — which comprises 483 lay members and clergy — urges Welby to step down.
It argues that Welby “held a personal and moral responsibility to pursue this further… which he failed to fulfil”.
“Given his role in allowing abuse to continue, we believe that his continuing as the Archbishop of Canterbury is no longer tenable,” it adds.
By this morning, it had garnered more than 1,600 signatures, while a growing number of priests were speaking out against him.
Giles Fraser, the vicar of St Anne’s Church in southwest London, told BBC radio today it was “a terrible situation”.
“I’m afraid he’s really lost the confidence of his clergy,” he said.
“He’s lost the confidence of many of his bishops, and his position is completely untenable.”
