Archbishop of Canterbury and most senior cleric in the Church of England, Justin Welby, has announced his resignation, saying he had failed to ensure a proper investigation into allegations of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.
The 68-year old resigned five days after the independent Makin Report singled him out for criticism over his handling of abuse allegations dating back to the 1970s.
In his resignation letter on Tuesday, Welby said he must take “personal and institutional responsibility” for a lack of action on the “heinous abuses”.
The report found that a British lawyer, John Smyth, had subjected more than 100 boys and young men to “brutal and horrific” abuse over a 40-year period.
Smyth was the chairman of the Iwerne Trust, which funded the Christian camps in Dorset in England, which is where Welby worked as a dormitory officer before he was ordained.
The report said Smyth moved to Africa in 1984 and continued to carry out the abuse in Zimbabwe and South Africa until close to his death in 2018.
The report said the Church of England at its highest level knew about the sexual abuse claims at the camps in 2013, and Welby found out about the accusations in the same year, months after he had become archbishop.
Welby apologised for “failures and omissions” but said he had “no idea or suspicion” of the allegations before 2013. The report concluded this was unlikely, accusing him of failing in his “personal and moral responsibility” to ensure a proper investigation.
