Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby steps down amid sexual abuse scandal in Church of England

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby announced his resignation Tuesday, taking “personal and institutional responsibility” after an inquiry found he failed to promptly report abuse allegations against a Church of England volunteer.

Calls to resign had grown louder since Thursday, when a new 251-page independent review revealed that Archbishop Welby had known in 2013 about the abuse committed by John Smyth, a former Christian camp leader who preyed on young men and boys.

“I believe stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England,” Archbishop Welby said, calling it a difficult but necessary decision.

The review detailed the church’s investigation into Smyth who allegedly inflicted “appalling” sexual violence on at least 115 victims over a span of five decades.

Smyth’s actions first came to light in the early 1980s, yet church officials took no substantive steps to stop him and allowed him to relocate to South Africa, where he continued abusing young men until his death in 2018.

Archbishop Welby became aware of the situation in 2013, shortly after his appointment — and the report suggests that he, too, failed to act decisively by not reporting Smyth’s crimes to the authorities.

“I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse,” the archbishop said in a statement to the public.

“The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done,” he added.

According to the report, “in effect, three and a half years were lost, a time within which John Smyth could have been brought to justice and any abuse he was committing in South Africa discovered and stopped.”

King Charles III, the supreme governor of the Church of England, engaged privately with Archbishop Welby earlier Tuesday through intermediaries, according to PA News Agency. The king reportedly expressed his support for Archbishop Welby’s resignation process, coordinated by aides from both sides. A formal statement from the king is anticipated closer to Archbishop Welby’s official departure.

Following the report’s release, Archbishop Welby issued a public apology, expressing remorse not only for his own actions but also for the broader culture of “wickedness, concealment, and abuse” within the church. His spokeswoman confirmed that he remains “horrified” by Smyth’s actions and deeply regrets the institutional failures that allowed the abuse to persist.

But until Tuesday, his office had maintained his intent to remain in his post, a decision that sparked outrage among Church of England members. The backlash against Archbishop Welby swelled — more than 1,800 people signed a petition led by three members of the General Synod, the church’s governing body, calling for his resignation.

The Church of England, born amid the sweeping changes of the 16th-century Reformation, stands as the original heart of Anglican fait — the “mother church” to the global Anglican Communion. This worldwide fellowship of independent churches is united by shared Anglican traditions and guided by the archbishop of Canterbury.

As the Communion’s leader, the archbishop is meant to embody the unity of Anglicans across continents, working as a point of connection among diverse communities joined by their common heritage. The Church of England boasts some 984,000 members, according to 2022 data. In that same year, the church’s worshipping community accounted for 1.7% of the population of England.

With Archbishop Welby’s resignation now official, focus has shifted to the lengthy and meticulous process of choosing his successor — a process that will involve input from across England and beyond.

The BBC reported that a nationwide consultation will soon be launched, inviting feedback from people inside and outside the Church of England on the qualities they wish to see in the next archbishop. The consultation is expected to span several months, gathering many perspectives on the archbishop’s role not only as a spiritual leader but also as a public figure with broad constitutional responsibilities.

Following the public consultation, church and government officials will summarize the findings and use them to create a preliminary long list of candidates. No applications are submitted for the post. Candidates are not even required to be bishops or even affiliated with the Church of England — although past archbishops often have been.

The committee responsible for making the selection, comprising 17 members led by a chair appointed by the prime minister, will conduct interviews with the candidates. Committee members include representatives from the General Synod, Parliament and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

At least two-thirds of the committee must agree before a final choice is made — a consensus that will likely take at least six months to achieve, according to the BBC.

Some church officials have publicly lamented the archbishop’s resignation while noting its inevitability.

In a church blog post, the Rev. Sam Wells, vicar of St. Martin in the Fields church in central London, said the archbishop was merely paying the price for “an institution’s failings.”

“It is tragic that a primacy bringing such profound good in so many areas, conducted by a person of singular faith, courage, humility and integrity, should end like this,” he added.

Others have not felt as kindly about the situation, noting that the archbishop’s delay in resignation was a moral failure.

“He let down so many people, as an institution, and yet at the same time, it’s been a wake up call and a huge amount of lessons have been learnt,” the Rev. Canon Clare MacLaren, the canon provost of Sunderland Minster, told the BBC.

Ms. MacLaren said that if the archbishop had resigned Thursday, it “would have had the most powerful impact.”

Her statement underscores a broader debate within the Church of England over its approach to safeguarding and its willingness to confront institutional failings, something several church leaders have expressed since the report’s release.