Head of the Anglican Church and Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby has announced his resignation after facing mounting pressure to quit over his handling of an abuse case.
Welby said in a statement yesterday that he was “stepping aside in the best interest of the Church of England.”
A review into the case had “exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth,” he wrote.
“When I was informed in 2013 and told that the police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.”
Demands for Welby’s resignation had been growing in recent days, with British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer saying abuse victims had been “failed very, very badly.”
