Justin Welby marks final day as Archbishop of Canterbury after quitting over Church abuse | EUROtoday
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Justin Welby is spending his closing day as Archbishop of Canterbury as he prepares to step down over failures in dealing with a Church of England abuse scandal.
Dr Welby will formally give up the position at midnight on Monday nearly two months after asserting his resignation after a damning report uncovered a “conspiracy of silence” across the abuse.
The Makin evaluate discovered that camp chief John Smyth – thought to have been probably the most prolific serial abuser related to the Church – might need been prosecuted if Dr Welby reported him to police in 2013.
Smyth died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018 whereas underneath investigation by Hampshire Police, and so was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the evaluate stated.
He is claimed to have subjected as many as 130 boys and younger males within the UK and Africa to traumatic bodily, sexual, psychological and non secular assaults throughout 5 a long time in three completely different nations.
Dr Welby stated he had had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse” earlier than 2013, however acknowledged that the evaluate had discovered that after its wider publicity that 12 months he had “personally failed to ensure” the case was “energetically investigated”.
He is claimed to be spending Monday privately at his London residence, Lambeth Palace, attending a lunchtime Eucharist and later a service of Evensong.
It is in the course of the latter that he’ll lay down his bishop’s crozier – a ceremonial lengthy employees – in a symbolic act which marks the official finish of his ministry as Archbishop of Canterbury.
He has made few public appearances since mid-November, and didn’t give the normal Christmas Day sermon from Canterbury Cathedral.
While in his preliminary resignation assertion on 12 November he stated he was stepping down “in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse”, he needed to challenge an apology later that month following his closing speech within the House of Lords.
On that event he was accused of creating mild of significant safeguarding failures within the Church, with an abuse survivor branding the speech – which referenced a 14th-century beheading and prompted laughter from some friends – “tone deaf”.
In current weeks a serious charity, The Children’s Society, additionally rejected a Christmas donation from Dr Welby, saying that accepting it “would not be consistent with the principles and values that underpin our work”.
From Tuesday, a lot of the official features usually held by the Archbishop of Canterbury will likely be delegated to the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell whereas some will go to the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, and the diocesan features will likely be carried out by the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin.
Mr Cottrell has additionally confronted calls to resign over his dealing with of a separate abuse case however, showing to reject these calls in current weeks, he has pledged to “do what I can” to result in impartial scrutiny of safeguarding within the Church.
The course of to switch Dr Welby is anticipated to take months, with an announcement a few new Archbishop of Canterbury attainable in autumn.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/justin-welby-archbishop-of-canterbury-church-of-england-abuse-b2674069.html