Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby RESIGNS over Church of England sex abuse scandal

Justin Welby has announced he will resign after it emerged he "personally failed" to properly investigate a prolific Church of England sexual abuser.

The decision comes after a petition, started by three members of the General Synod – the church’s parliament – calling for to quit hit more than 10,000 signatures on Tuesday., but refused to go so far as to condemn the top C of E priest's actions.

When pressed by a group of journalists while travelling to this week's COP climate summit in Azerbaijan on Monday, UK PM Starmer said: "That’s a matter really for the church rather than for me."

And this lunchtime, in a statement on his official website, Mr Welby said: "It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.

"It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.

"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 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.

:In the meantime, I will follow through on my commitment to meet victims. I will delegate all my other current responsibilities for safeguarding until the necessary risk assessment process is complete."

Mr Welby initially apologised after the Makin Review concluded that barrister John Smyth, who is thought to have been the most prolific abuser associated with the Church of England, might have been brought to justice had the archbishop formally alerted authorities in 2013.

READ MORE:

Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the review published last week said.

Mr Welby acknowledged the review found that, after Smyth’s abuse was subject to wider exposure in 2013, he had “personally failed to ensure” it was “energetically investigated”.

But he initially resisted calls to resign, with a Lambeth Palace spokesperson saying at first that the archbishop “hopes the Makin Review supports the ongoing work of building a safer church here and around the ”.

Andrew Morse, a victim of Smyth’s whom he first met while a pupil at Winchester College, Hampshire, described him as a predator.

This is a breaking news story. Follow us on , , , , or visit homepage.