The Archbishop of Canterbury is refusing to step down after being accused of not doing more to report a man thought be one of the most prolific child abusers in the church’s ranks.
The serving bishop, Justin Welby, is under growing pressure to resign because of his reported “failures” to take stronger action relating when allegations were first brought to his attention.
Members of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, have launched a petition calling on him to step down, saying he has ”lost their trust … given his role in allowing abuse to continue”.
What are the details of their call for him to resign? And what do we know about the Archbishop of Canterbury?
Who is Justin Welby?
Justin Welby became archbishop at Canterbury Cathedral on March 21, 2013 and is an old Etonian. He is married to Caroline Eaton and they have had six children – five who are living - and have four grandchildren. They lost their baby daughter in a car crash 40 years ago.
Mr Welby said he treated the tragedy in France in 1983, in which his seven-month old daughter, Johanna was killed, as a “constant reminder of the uncertainty of life”.
The archbishop told Radio 4 previously that he and his wife mark each anniversary of Johanna's death.
He said: “The thing is to celebrate the person, to remember them with love, to remember what they gave and what you gave them.”
He came to the church and was ordained in 1992 after an 11-year career working in the oil industry. He spent his first 15 years serving the church in Coventry.
He then served as Dean of Liverpool from 2007 to 2011 and Bishop of Durham from 2011 to 2012, before being announced as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury in late 2012.
He says his passion in the role is for “reconciliation and peace-making” and he is also a member of the House of Lords.
What is his role?
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury.
The church’s retirement age is 70, an age Mr Welby will reach in January 2026. If he stays in post until then he will be the longest serving archbishop of Canterbury since Michael Ramsey, who retired in 1974 having occupied Lambeth Palace for 13 years.
Why are there calls for him to resign?
The calls relate to reports of abuse by the late John Smyth, a British barrister who died in 2018.
It is claimed Smyth abused more than 100 boys and young men in a scandal that was “covered up” by the Church for decades.
The archbishop had volunteered at the holiday camps where the abuse took place in the late 1970s but has said he was unaware of the allegations at the time.
More than 1,500 people have now signed a petition after a harrowing report stated the abuse was “prolific, brutal and horrific” and known about at the “very top” of the organisation.
Giles Fraser, a London vicar, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Mr Welby had “lost the confidence of the clergy”.
He said: “This needs to be our watershed moment in the church, where we look at the culture of deference, the way in which many of our senior leadership rally to defend each other.”
Smyth is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England, a long-awaited independent review found, which said it was “unlikely” Mr Welby would not have known about the abuse.
But the Makin report released in early November also said Mr Welby was informed of the abuse allegations in 2013 but failed to take action.
It read: “[Welby] may not have known of the extreme seriousness of the abuse but it is most probable that he would have had at least a level of knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern.”
After Channel 4 News exposed Smyth’s abuse in 2017, Mr Welby told the programme he had “no idea that there was anything as horrific as this going on … I had no suspicions at all”.
Lambeth Palace, the archbishop’s headquarters, said in a statement on Monday that Mr Welby had “apologised profoundly both for his own failures and omissions, and for the wickedness, concealment and abuse by the church more widely” but “does not intend to resign”.
What has the Archbishop said about the scandal?
In a statement issued on November 7, he apologised to those who had suffered.
He said: "The pain experienced by the victims in this case is unimaginable. They have lived with the trauma inflicted by John Smyth's horrendous abuse for more than 40 years, both here in the UK and in Southern Africa, particularly Zimbabwe.
"I recognise the courage of those victims, including those related to John Smyth, who have come forward and relived their trauma through contributing to this review. I know their willingness to share their painful testimonies will come at great personal cost.
"I am deeply sorry that this abuse happened. 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.
“I am sorry that concealment by many people who were fully aware of the abuse over many years meant that John Smyth was able to abuse overseas and died before he ever faced justice. The report rightly condemns that behaviour.”
He added that he had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013”.
The Archbishop continued: "Nevertheless the review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated.
“Since that time the way in which the Church of England engages with victims and survivors has changed beyond recognition. Checks and balances introduced seek to ensure that the same could not happen today.”
