LONDON (AP) — The head of the Church of England, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, is under pressure to resign after an investigation found he failed to inform police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer in Christian summer camps. as soon as he became aware of it.
Some members of the General Synod, the church’s national assembly, have started a petition calling on Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to resign. They say he has “lost the trust of his clergy.” The petition had collected more than 1,800 signatures on Change.org by late Monday morning, London time.
Calls for Welby’s resignation have increased since Thursday, when the church published the results of an independent investigation into John Smyth, who sexually, psychologically and physically abused around 30 boys and young men in the UK and 85 in Africa over five decades. abused.
The 251-page report concluded that Welby did not report Smyth to authorities when he was informed of the abuse in August 2013, shortly after becoming Archbishop of Canterbury.
Welby last week took responsibility for failing to ensure the allegations were pursued as “energetic” as they should have been after he learned of the abuse, but said he had decided not to resign.
On Monday, his office released a statement reiterating Welby’s “disgust at the extent of John Smyth’s blatant abuse.”
“As he has said, he was not aware or suspicious of the allegations before he was informed in 2013 – and therefore, now that he has reflected on them, he has no intention of resigning,” the statement said. “He hopes the Makin Review supports the ongoing work of building a safer church here and around the world.”
Church officials first became aware of the abuse in 1982, when they received the results of an internal investigation into Smyth. The recipients of that report “participated in an active cover-up” to prevent its findings from coming to light, the Makin Review found.
Smyth moved to Zimbabwe in 1984 and then moved 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 his death in August 2018.
Smyth’s abuse was only made public during a 2017 investigation by British television channel Channel 4, which led to Hampshire police launching an investigation. Police had planned to question Smyth at the time of his death and had prepared to extradite him.
The Makin Review found that had Smyth been reported to police in 2013, it could have helped uncover the truth, prevented further abuse and led to a possible criminal conviction.
“In effect, three and a half years were lost, a time when John Smyth could have been brought to justice and any abuse he committed in South Africa discovered and stopped,” the review said.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the Church of England 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 other primates of the community.
