Justin Welby resigns as Archbishop of Canterbury – DW – 11/13/2024
The leader of the Anglican Church, Justin Welby, announced his resignation on Tuesday (11/12/2024), following allegations that his organization covered up physical and sexual attacks on children for years by a lawyer associated with it in the United Kingdom.
“I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our deep commitment to building a safe institution,” Welby, the 68-year-old Archbishop of Canterbury, said in a statement.
Before the announcement, Welby contacted King Charles III, supreme governor of the Anglican Church, who agreed to the resignation.
Many Anglican religious leaders have been calling for the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury for several days, following a devastating report on how the church handled the matter. On November 9, three members of General SynodThe elected body responsible for deciding on matters of Church of England doctrine submitted a petition demanding his resignation, which had more than 12,500 signatures on Tuesday.
John Smith case and Justin Welby’s resignation
Between the 1970s and the mid-2010s, John Smith – a lawyer who chaired a charity associated with the Anglican Church and organized holiday camps – worked extensively in the United Kingdom and then in Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Sexually exploited 130 children and teenagers. , where he settled and died in 2018, aged 75, without standing trial.
The institution was officially informed about these incidents in 2013, but many officials had known about them since the 1980s and kept them quiet as part of a “cover-up campaign”, according to a published report. An investigation conducted by the Anglican Church itself was concluded in 1997. On 7th November.
Ahead of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s announcement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday described physical and sexual attacks against children as “horrific” and expressed regret that these victims were “abandoned”.
Starmer did not comment directly on calls for Welby’s resignation. “This is a matter for the Church,” he declared during a press conference in Baku, where he was at COP29, “but I will not hesitate to say that these are terrible allegations and my sympathies are with the victims who were Abandoned. Very serious,” the Labor Prime Minister said.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who had apologized over the matter days earlier, also described the attacks as “brutal” in a statement. Welby said: “It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and painful period between 2013 and 2024.”
“These past few days have reawakened the deep sense of shame I have long felt over the historic failings in safeguarding the Church of England. For almost twelve years I have striven for reform. It is up to others That’s what they have been.”Achieved,” said the Archbishop of Canterbury.
According to the report, which details the physical, sexual and psychological torment he inflicted on his victims, Smith is “possibly the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church of England.” Among other things, the lawyer took young children to his home in southern England, where he, citing religious justification, sometimes beat them with a cane until they bled.
The report also concludes that the Archbishop of Canterbury “should have reported” the violence committed by the lawyer to police in 2013 when he became head of the Church of England. The case came to light in 2017 after the airing of a television network documentary channel 4According to another report published in 2020, 390 people associated with the Church of England have been convicted of sexual crimes from 1940 to 2018.
Well known among the British public, Welby has attended several important royal events in recent years, including the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of Charles III.
AMA (AFP, Reuters, AP)