Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to resign over Smyth review

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has announced he will resign, following days of pressure after a damning review into the most prolific abuser associated with the Church of England.

The independent Makin Review concluded that barrister John Smyth might have been brought to justice had the archbishop formally alerted authorities in 2013.

Mr Welby had apologised but stated that he would not resign, following the review’s publication last week.

The past week had seen a range of people, from the Bishop of Newcastle to abuse victims and members of the General Synod – the Church of England’s parliament – insist that Mr Welby’s position had become “untenable”.

In a statement on Tuesday, he said: “Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.

“The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses 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 retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.”

The King approved the resignation on Tuesday morning.

Mr Welby said he believed his resignation was in the church’s best interests, that he was quitting “in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse” and that the past few days had “renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England”.

He said: “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.”

Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said it was “the right and honourable thing to do” for Mr Welby to have “decided to take his share of responsibility for the failures identified by the Makin Review”, while Bishop of London Dame Sarah Mullally said the move “provides the urgent impetus we need to change the face of safeguarding in the Church of England”.

Over five decades between the 1970s until his death, Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives.

A lay reader who led Christian summer camps, Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the review said.

Mr Welby knew Smyth because of his attendance at Iwerne Christian camps in the 1970s, but the review said there was no evidence that he had “maintained any significant contact” with the barrister in later years.

The archbishop said he had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse” before 2013.

The report said Smyth “could and should have been formally reported to the police in the UK, and to authorities in South Africa (church authorities and potentially the police) by church officers, including a diocesan bishop and Justin Welby in 2013″.

One of the Synod members behind a petition which had gathered thousands of signatories calling for Mr Welby’s resignation said he was “deeply saddened” by what had happened.

The Rev Dr Ian Paul told the PA news agency: “I’m saddened that this episode has come up, I’m grieved for the victims, the survivors and that they’ve had to go through this again.

“I think it’s very sad that this whole episode has happened, I think it’s sad that the Makin Report had to happen, and I think it’s sad that it’s taken so long for meaningful action to take place.

“If I’m pleased about anything it’s that Justin has taken himself at his own words. I’ve never been interested in picking on somebody or tokenism or scapegoating.”

He said he hoped “this is the first step towards the kind of cultural change in senior leadership that the Makin Review is pointing us towards”.

Dame Sarah said: “Archbishop Justin’s decision reflects a recognition of the standards to which we are all held. It also creates the necessary space to enable change.

“We need a genuinely survivor-focused approach, with independent scrutiny and mandatory reporting at its heart. From this moment, the Church must drive fundamental safeguarding reform.”

Dr Joanne Grenfell, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, said the failings identified in the Makin Report into Smyth’s abuse meant it was “now necessary for others to take up the baton” on safeguarding.

She described her “sadness” at news of Mr Welby’s resignation but said she respected and understood it.

She added: “I have worked closely with Archbishop Justin since I took on this role and have greatly valued his personal commitment to good safeguarding and his desire to see the whole Church make this a priority.”