Head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby Pressured To Resign for Covering up the Crimes of a Serial Abuser of Boys and Young Men

The results of an independent investigation into the serial sexual abuser John Smyth is generating enormous repercussions in the UK, and the outrage may end up toppling the head of the Church of England, Justin Welby.

The spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion is under incredible pressure to resign for not having immediately informed law enforcement about the physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by Smyth, a volunteer at Christian summer camps, once he became aware of it.

Associated Press reported:

“Some members of the General Synod, the church’s national assembly, have started a petition calling on Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to step down, saying he had ‘lost the confidence of his clergy’. The petition had garnered more than 1,800 signatures on Change.org by late morning London time on Monday.”

Female Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley, from Newcastle, has branded Welby’s position as ‘untenable’.

“Calls for Welby’s 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.”

Welby didn’t report Smyth to the authorities in 2013, when he had just become Archbishop of Canterbury.

The archbishop admitted he didn’t pursue the allegations ‘energetically’, but he will not resign.

“On Monday, his office issued a statement reiterating Welby’s ‘horror at the scale’ of John Smyth’s egregious abuse. ‘As he has said, he had no awareness or suspicion of the allegations before he was told in 2013 — and therefore, having reflected, he does not intend to resign’, the statement said. ‘He hopes the Makin Review supports the ongoing work of building a safer church here and around the world’.”

The cover-up in the Church of England began way before Welby’s time, back in 1982, with ‘an active cover-up’ to prevent the crimes from coming to light, the Makin Review found.

Smyth moved to Africa, where he continued to abuse boys and young men until he died in 2018.

“Smyth’s abuse wasn’t made public until a 2017 investigation by Britain’s 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.”

Makin Review found that if Smyth had been reported to police in 2013, it would prevent further abuse and maybe lead to a criminal conviction.

“’In 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’, the review found.”

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