Justin Welby is spending his final day as Archbishop of Canterbury as he prepares to step down over failures in handling a Church of England abuse scandal.
Dr Welby will officially quit the role at midnight on Monday almost two months after announcing his resignation after a damning report exposed a “conspiracy of silence” around the abuse.
The Makin review found that camp leader John Smyth – thought to have been the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church – might have been prosecuted if Dr Welby reported him to police in 2013.
Smyth died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and so was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the review said.
He 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 across five decades in three different countries.
Dr Welby said he had had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse” before 2013, but acknowledged that the review had found that after its wider exposure that year he had “personally failed to ensure” the case was “energetically investigated”.
He is said to be spending Monday privately at his London residence, Lambeth Palace, attending a lunchtime Eucharist and later a service of Evensong.
It is during the latter that he will lay down his bishop’s crozier – a ceremonial long staff – in a symbolic act which marks the official end of his ministry as Archbishop of Canterbury.
He has made few public appearances since mid-November, and did not give the traditional Christmas Day sermon from Canterbury Cathedral.
While in his initial resignation statement on 12 November he said he was stepping down “in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse”, he had to issue an apology later that month following his final speech in the House of Lords.
On that occasion he was accused of making light of serious safeguarding failures in the Church, with an abuse survivor branding the speech – which referenced a 14th-century beheading and prompted laughter from some peers – “tone deaf”.
In recent weeks a major charity, The Children’s Society, also rejected a Christmas donation from Dr Welby, saying that accepting it “would not be consistent with the principles and values that underpin our work”.
From Tuesday, most of the official functions normally held by the Archbishop of Canterbury will be delegated to the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell while some will go to the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, and the diocesan functions will be carried out by the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin.
Mr Cottrell has also faced calls to resign over his handling of a separate abuse case but, appearing to reject those calls in recent weeks, he has pledged to “do what I can” to bring about independent scrutiny of safeguarding in the Church.
The process to replace Dr Welby is expected to take months, with an announcement about a new Archbishop of Canterbury possible in autumn.
