Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned on November 12. He said he had failed to ensure an investigation into crimes against boys in Christian camps that occurred decades ago.
This is stated in Welbyʼs official statement.
"The last few days have renewed my old and deep sense of shame at the historic failure of the Church of England to protect human rights. I am resigning in sorrow with all the victims and survivors of abuse," the cleric wrote.
He was called for to resign after a report was published which said the archbishop did not do enough to punish John Smith, a British barrister who ran a Christian summer camp for children in Dorset. Welby also worked there before his ordination, writes Reuters.
Smith is accused of abusing children in the camps starting in the 1970s. More than 100 boys and teenagers suffered from beatings and molestation over 40 years, the report claims. The man moved to Africa in 1984 and allegedly continued to abuse minors until his death in 2018.
In his resignation letter, Welby admitted he had to "take personal and institutional responsibility" for failing to act on these "heinous abuses". The church community says it is the first time in history that an Anglican archbishop has resigned over an abuse scandal.
Anglican churches in African countries — Uganda and Nigeria — are likely to welcome his resignation, the agency writes. In 2023, they noted that they had lost confidence in the clergyman. A spokesman for the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the official respects the archbishopʼs decision to step down.
- In April 2024, the Catholic Church in Portugal decided to pay financial compensation to victims of sexual abuse by clergy. The payment amount will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
- A report by a Portuguese commission last year found that at least 4 815 children had been sexually abused by clerics, mostly priests, over the past 70 years. At the same time, in Spain, more than 200 000 children have been sexually abused by the clergy over the past 90 years.
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