LONDON (AP) 鈥 The head of the Church of England, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, is under pressure to resign after an investigation found that he failed to inform police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.
Some members of the General Synod, the church鈥檚 national assembly, have started a petition calling on Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to step down, saying he had 鈥渓ost the confidence of his clergy.鈥 The petition had garnered more than 1,800 signatures on by late morning London time on Monday.
Compounding the pressure, a senior cleric added her voice to those who believe he should resign. Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, told the BBC that Welby鈥檚 position is 鈥渦ntenable.''
Calls for Welby鈥檚 resignation have grown since Thursday, when the church released the results of an independent review into John Smyth, who sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa over five decades.
The 251-page report concluded that Welby failed to report Smyth to authorities when he was informed of the abuse in August 2013, soon after he became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Welby last week took responsibility for not ensuring that the allegations were pursued as 鈥渆nergetically鈥 as they should have been after he learned of the abuse, but said he had decided not to resign.
On Monday, his office issued a statement reiterating Welby鈥檚 鈥渉orror at the scale of John Smyth鈥檚 egregious abuse.鈥
鈥淎s he has said, he had no awareness or suspicion of the allegations before he was told in 2013 鈥 and therefore, having reflected, he does not intend to resign,鈥 the statement said. 鈥淗e hopes the Makin Review supports the ongoing work of building a safer church here and around the world.鈥
Church officials were first made aware of the abuse in 1982, when they received the results of an internal investigation into Smyth. The recipients of that report 鈥減articipated in an active cover-up鈥 to prevent its findings from coming to light, the Makin Review found.
Smyth moved to Zimbabwe in 1984, then relocated to South Africa in 2021. He continued to abuse boys and young men in Zimbabwe and there is evidence that the abuse continued in South Africa until he died in August 2018.
Smyth鈥檚 abuse wasn鈥檛 made public until a 2017 investigation by Britain鈥檚 Channel 4 television, which led Hampshire Police to start an investigation. Police were planning to question Smyth at the time of his death and had been preparing to extradite him.
The Makin Review found that if Smyth had been reported to police in 2013, it could have helped to uncover the truth, prevented further abuse and led to a possible criminal conviction.
鈥淚n effect, three and a half years was 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,鈥 the review found.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the and is seen as the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, which has more than 85 million members in 165 countries. He is considered first among equals with respect to the communion鈥檚 other primates.
