Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby—the head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion—resigned on Nov. 12 after an investigation revealed that he failed to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it, the AP reported.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and re-traumatizing period between 2013 and 2024,” Welby said in a statement. “I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honored to serve.”
Some members of the church’s national assembly started a petition calling on him to step down because he had “lost the confidence of his clergy.” But the strongest calls for accountability came from victims of the late John Smyth, a prominent attorney who abused teenage boys and young men at Christian summer camps in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa over five decades.
On Nov. 7, the church released the results of an independent investigation into Smyth, who sexually, psychologically and physically abused approximately 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa beginning in the 1970s. The findings stated that Welby failed to report Smyth to authorities when he was informed of the abuse in August 2013, soon after he became archbishop of Canterbury.
Last month, Welby was criticized about remarks he made regarding sexual activity after he said on Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart’s Leading podcast that he now believed “all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship—whether it’s straight or gay,” per The Telegraph. Evangelical Christians claimed the archbishop had “failed the Church, he has failed the CofE, he has failed the worldwide Anglican Communion, and he has failed Christ.”