The head of the Church of England, Justin Welby, has resigned after a scandal over the cover-up of sexual abuse

Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion worldwide, has resigned after an investigation found that he failed to notify the police of a series of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at a Christian summer camp as soon as he became aware of it. it.

Pressure has been mounting on the Archbishop of Canterbury after the release of findings sparked outrage at a lack of accountability at the highest levels of the church. Some members of the General Synod, the national body of this church, started a petition for Welby to step down, saying “he no longer trusts his pastors.”

“I believe that withdrawing will benefit the Anglican Church, which I love and am honored to serve,” he said in a statement.

A strong complaint came from the victims of John Smyth.

Smyth, who died in South Africa in 2018 at the age of 75, physically, sexually, mentally and spiritually, is the same as 30 young men in the UK and 85 in Africa in 50 years, a 251-page report released last week found . Smyth is believed to be the biggest abuser associated with the church.

The archbishop knew about the abuse claims a decade ago

Andrew Morse, who was beaten repeatedly by Smyth over a five-year period, said the resignation was an opportunity for Welby to begin to repair the damage caused by the church's handling of widespread abuse cases.

“I believe now is the time for him to resign,” Morse told the BBC before Welby stepped down. “I say opportunity in the sense that this could be his chance to stand with the victims of Smyth's abuse and all the victims who have not been treated fairly by the Church of England in their cases of abuse.”

Welby's resignation comes after widespread sexual abuse in the Church of England. A 2022 report found that the delegitimization of priests, a lack of acceptance of gender discussions and a culture that gave more support to alleged abusers than their victims helped make the Church of England “a place where abusers could hide.”

A confidential report about Smyth's abuse was compiled by a pastor in 1982 and other church officials knew about it, but the police were never contacted, Makin's report last week said.

Church officials, including Welby, had another chance to report Smyth — and prevent any possible abuse — when they heard about it in 2013, the report said.

Welby, who attended Christian camps and knew Smyth, said he had no knowledge of the abuse before 2013.

“However, the review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after the disclosure in 2013 this terrible tragedy was investigated vigorously,” Welby said last week. The report says that if Smyth had been reported to the police at the time, the truth might have come out and led to his conviction.

“Despite the efforts of some people to bring the abuse to the attention of the authorities, the responses of the Church of England and others were ineffective and ended up being hidden,” said Keith Makin, who led the review, the report said.

Word of Smyth's abuse was not made public until a 2017 investigation from Britain's Channel 4.

Smith moved to Zimbabwe in 1984 and later moved to South Africa. He continued to abuse boys and young men in Zimbabwe, and there is evidence that the abuse continued in South Africa until his death in August 2018.

He is the leader of the world's 85 million Anglicans

Welby's position has put him in the spotlight over the past two years, at church events surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles.

Now 68, he was made archbishop of the Church of England in 2013, becoming the spiritual head of 85 million Anglicans in 165 countries.

Welby was admired for his vocal campaigning on social issues such as the fight against poverty, and was open about his past, including discussing his parents' struggle with alcoholism and his temptation to self-harm.

But his tenure included a decade of great upheaval in which he was forced to navigate debates over gay rights and women's pastors between liberal churches, particularly in North America and Britain, and conservative counterparts, particularly in Africa.

His successor's biggest challenges will include holding together the increasingly fragmented Anglican community around the world and trying to reverse the decline in church attendance, which has fallen for the fifth time in Britain since 2019.

Church procedures for the appointment of a new archbishop of Canterbury require a body of clergy and the chair, appointed by the British prime minister, to put forward two names for him.