The following statement was released by the Lambeth Palace Press Office at 2pm today.
Statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury
12/11/2024
Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.
When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.
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.
I ask everyone to keep my wife Caroline and my children in their prayers. They have been my most important support throughout my ministry, and I am eternally grateful for their sacrifice. Caroline led the spouses’ programme during the Lambeth Conference and has travelled tirelessly in areas of conflict supporting the most vulnerable, the women, and those who care for them locally.
I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve. I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us.
For above all else, my deepest commitment is to the person of Jesus Christ, my saviour and my God; the bearer of the sins and burdens of the world, and the hope of every person.
Finding support
If you or anyone you are in contact with are affected by the publication of this report and want to talk to someone independently please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk.
Alternatively, you may wish to contact the diocesan safeguarding team in your area or the National Safeguarding Team at safeguarding@churchofengland.org.
There are also other support services available.
I hope Bishops Conway and Bailey Wells will now follow his example and accept personal responsibility by resigning for the failings attributed to them in the Report.
Hear! Hear!
Agreed, along with those identified earlier in the timeline. If retired they should willingly surrender PTO. The situation is so bad it almost feels we need a public tracker for this and other investigations, to include past failures including those of Carey and Sentamu. The idea of full transparency may make many of us feel uncomfortable, but when an institution has fallen into such disrepute, this now seems the only way of enabling the survivor centred approach some bishops are now saying we need.
If it doesn’t exist by the weekend maybe I will create a public Google spreadsheet from the report.
I agree it would be helpful.
I hope somebody beats me to it though
Bring on the Augean stables and then start afresh .
I suppose this was inevitable, and while it causes the Church much pain in the short term I hope that it will shake the complacency and old boys network at the top of the Church so that real change can happen. We need to be survivor focussed moving forward, and the politicking over sexuality needs to stop. There also needs to be a deeper clear out than just Welby. There are others named in the report, and they should be dealt with on a case by case basis. I particularly think that Revd Andrew Cornes needs to consider his position… Read more »
I guess in 1982, Andrew Cornes would be a curate
Mr Cornes is retired now, but my view is a way he can show contrition for past failings is to resign from the CNC and from General Synod. He should also hand back his PTO, in my view, and be subject to a risk assessment. If he doesn’t, I think his Bishop should consider rescinding his PTO, as such permissions have been denied or rescinded for far less in recent times. If the Bishop rescinded his PTO, his membership of General Synod would lapse, as he would no longer be eligible – see Note 26 of the 2021 Guidance Notes… Read more »
We can safely proceed on the basis that his bishop is aware of the situation.
A new Petition?
I’m not sure if the standing orders would allow General Synod to remove him.
But I think you’re right – – now Justin is gone/going. It’s very very important that the next Archbishop comes in with no hint of being part of the usual cover-up.
On a serious point maybe the petition should now be replaced by one asking for some form of wider discussion point for General Synod to enable a house-clearing?
The next meeting of Synod cannot be business as usual – I do hope those responsible realise that.
General Synod need clearing themselves. Ecclesiastical self-government has been totally disastrous.
So what would you have instead? All decisions made by the bishops and Church House mandarins?
By true representatives of the people. Either Parliament or a directly elected body of ecclesiastical representatives such as exists in Scandinavia.
What’s the turnout for those elections in Scandinavia? What do you imagine they would be here? Much of the current disproportionality of synodical representation is driven by low engagement, even turnout, of the small electorate. Merely expanding the electorate to include a lot more disinterested people is much more likely to gift control of synod (or new governing body) to extremists who are able to mobilise their flunkies.
In Sweden in 2022 about 884,000 out of a population of 10.5 million (including children and Catholics) voted. The largest group in Synod is the Swedish Social Democrat Party ( just over a quarter of seats). I should think a wider franchise would make extremism less likely. Why do you suppose otherwise?
General Synod did nothing to stop Welby. The idea it should have any role going forward is preposterous. Root and Branch.
Well
Now this has happened – – hopefully focus can now be on those more guilty – and those systems that have caused/encouraged/enabled delay at every step.
There are quite a few others who now need to consider their position, both those named by Makin, and members of the Archbishops’ Council who demonstrated their lack of concern for victims and survivors by disbanding the ISB. If there is to be a real change in culture, there needs to be a very deep clear out first.
There should at least be clarity on how the Secretary General of Archbishops’ Council may be complained about and what the nature of his disciplinary policy is so he can be the focus of relevant complaints. Is it time for a clear out of all those bishops and senior clergy who have put reputational damage minimisation as a priority over the needs of the modern day widows and orphans and aliens in our gates (victims and survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and their subsequent reabuse by the system that should have protected them)? I think it is… and so… Read more »
Resignation with immediate effect or after an interval? Even as late as yesterday he indicated he would not go. The bishop of Newcastle’s remarks were akin to those of Alfred Blunt (bishop of Bradford) on 1 December 1936 when he spoke of the need of Edward VIII for “God’s grace”. This created a tsunami which quickly drove the then king to abdication. Likewise, the small cloud evident on the horizon at the end of last week has since turned into a raging torrent in the national press which has now driven the archbishop from office, the coup de grace perhaps… Read more »
Thank you so much Froghole for this analysis. As you say the array of possible replacements is unremarkable.
Thank you Froghole for your usual clear assessment of where we find ourselves. I suspect the Conservative Evangelical groups will now all line up in their ‘Alliance’ to lobby for one who they like to think of as ‘orthodox’ to be the successor to Justin. And the Provinces of the Anglican Communion who have recently declared themselves as out of communion with the CofE and refused to come to Lambeth will suddenly find that they now want to be party to the negotiation. The lobbying will turn to a (gentlemanly, of course) bullying and threatening and stamping in the CNC.… Read more »
There is another possibility. “The Provinces of the Anglican Communion who have recently declared themselves as out of communion with the CofE” conclude that the idea of a Canterbury-centered Communion has proven itself unworkable. They already hold this view in theory, and with this development, they have reason to say, it’s over. The timing is terrible: The CofE wishes to give the Communion greater representation in the choice of the ABC, and the ABC (as an office) has imploded. Throw in the decline and confusion in the CofE as such, what could possibly be the logic of a Canterbury centered… Read more »
Christopher you will note that I agreed with Froghole, and in particular his last paragraph.
I don’t share your view that the self righteous Provinces of the Communion won’t be interested in this development. They will be lining up to nominate one of the 5 members from the AC who will be part of the CNC. Though why anyone in the CofE would want to be in communion with Provinces who think the death penalty is appropriate for same sex relationships is beyond me and fills me with dread.
“Though why anyone in the CofE would want to be in communion with Provinces…” — if so, why was the proposal then made? We shall need to see the decline of the CofE and now this imbroglio over Canterbury — I suspect they are in fact related — filter through the Communion, such as it is. I am confused as to the “bullying and threatening and stamping in the CNC” by Provinces increasingly puzzled about the CofE and whatever role it is meant to have vis-a-vis the Communion. At all. The CofE decides it wants Communion input, and yet it… Read more »
Christopher I’m sorry but I really don’t understand what point(s) you are making here. I suppose we shall just have to see how the various Provinces of the AC respond.
But it’s good to be in agreement about Froghole’s assessment.
“I suppose we shall just have to see how the various Provinces of the AC respond.”
My point exactly, as against your confident: “bullying and threatening and stamping in the CNC”.
And, in agreement with the dire state of the CofE as per Froghole, such that any Provinces might now be non-stamping and non-bullying their way to be excited participants in — wait for it — the next ABC of a CofE in some crucial role in the Anglican Communion.
Yes, indeed “we shall just have to wait and see…”.
Ahh Christopher I think you would need to understand a bit more context here in the CofE. Some recent CNC gatherings have failed to appoint a bishop because, we may confidently assume from comments that have been made here and elsewhere, the Conservative Evangelical constituency present have blocked the appointment of a candidate who is sympathetic to those in same sex relationships. Maybe I needed to explain that more carefully, but it has been reported here and I mistakenly assumed you had read about the matter. In the case of the CNC for Canterbury, I think we can safely assume… Read more »
That’s all very interesting but has nothing much to do with non UK Provinces “bullying and threatening and stamping in the CNC” which was your comment.
I may not know the insider details of the CNC (happily) but I’m not confident you know much about “Provinces of the Anglican Communion who have recently declared themselves as out of communion with the CofE” and are meant to arrive and start bullying.
It’s probably a good idea to let things settle down.
And my comment clearly related to the Conservative Evangelical CofE members of the CNC supported by those from the Anglican Communion. It’s happened in CNC meetings, as I’ve carefully explained.
I also noted that it would be done in a ‘gentlemanly’ way.
Might I commend to you Martyn Percy’s excellent analysis of the situation. Here
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/religion/church-of-england/68523/welby-is-gonebut-trust-in-the-church-is-broken-beyond-repair
My point, which I thought clear, in response to the bullying and storming around scenario, was that with the decline of the CofE now manifest; and the recent imbroglio over the ABC; it would be an obvious deduction that the Anglican Communion must search about for a fresh self-understanding. Some have said, Canterbury is a distraction at best. Others have put themselves in a waiting pattern. Storming the beaches at some future CNC thing just seems committed to the view that everything is just fine in a Canterbury-centered polity. That is itself increasingly in question, and I would agree with… Read more »
Well I don’t think Froghole really addresses the Anglican Communion in his helpful post. He simply describes how the CofE is disintegrating. Martyn Percy gives a fuller analysis of why that is happening. My fear – and I think Froghole hints at this – is there are enough people around in the CofE and the Communion who think that with one last push we can turn things around. I think even the Global South hint at that in their response to this week’s events. They say: “There has never been a more challenging time for Global Anglicans to come together,… Read more »
I can’t comment on that. I agree with your concerns. God bless.
You still hanging with ACNA when you are Stateside?
I am hanging out with my publisher, in fact, and my new book has just appeared The Heights of the Hills are His Also (BUP, 2024), complete with lovely Wm Blake illustrations. When in Paris, you will find me at St Ignace in the 7th or the Jesuit faculty next door. I am researching a new book on Ecclesiastes and “The Man who Outshone the Sun King.” Thanks for asking.
https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481322454/the-heights-of-the-hills-are-his-also/
Cute answer to my largely rhetorical question. You indicated a number of threads ago here that you were theologian in residence in a parish in an ACNA diocese –Anglican Diocese of South Carolina. A most recent hit on their website indicates you are still listed as such. Good for you if that is what you want. Proclaim it boldly. Even if you are sometime there, I think we can read your speculations here re the next ABC from that political context, the hopes and dreams of the realigned–no matter where in the world you may be from time to time.… Read more »
I hope you have better things to do than stalking me, my friend! Cute, says who? My writing life, after the death of my wife, and our life in France, and my research and worship life there are dear to me. And my preaching here and pastoral care, with every denominated soul under the sun. I am a Priest in the TEC Diocese of Central Florida and have a PTO in the CofE. I love my remaining PhD students. I “hang out” with the Trinity. Grace and peace.
All politics is local. Your repeated punditry about the C of E and the future ( or lack of one) for the office of the ABC are further understood and contextualized by considering where you yourself have described yourself as fitting in Stateside. That would include your self declared relationship with ACNA. It is of interest in assessing your prognostications on the future ( or lack thereof ) of The Communion. Interesting in that in the two replies to my comment you side step that. Stalking. What drama. You mean like the characters Klondike Kat and Savoir-Faire? “Savoir Faire is… Read more »
Mr Gillis You obsess in ways that are humorous. This is a small new urbanization community, full of transplants from all over the US. Every denomination under the sun. My wife and I joined them for worship because it was outdoors and she was massively immuno-compromised. Her LAM disease would require a double-lung transplant in Paris, and covid was a killer. And it would kill her. I live here part of the year. I write books. I preach, lecture, lead MP and HC. For most of these people it is the first experience of the BCP. They know nothing about… Read more »
I take it you are alluding to the ACNA congregation, although you don’t explicitly name it. I guess that is a kind of hat rick. I like to aim for a bit of humour as a counter measure from time to time. Speaking of humour, you use the kaon I referenced in a previous thread. Like Bart Simpson (link) I don’t think you get it. lol. I was having a bit of fun with Frye’s sentence btw. He was mischievous and frequently drole. So I don’t think he would mind. Obsessive? My friends tell me I’m indefatigable on an issue,… Read more »
My spellchecker substituted kaon ( physics) for Koan
(Buddhist philosophy). I Should have picked that up. My bad. Also 2nd para. brackets, that should read. ” a literary set up”. -RG
If he had resigned on publication of the report he would have been seen as a man of principle who accepted his responsibilities and recognised his failures. Having been hounded out of office by petitions, anger and public opinion he goes in ignominy, his reputation shredded. It is this for which he will be remembered.
Not really. The Report only revealed to the public what had happened. Welby already knew. If he hung on in the hope the Report would cover up his involvement, where is the integrity in that?
Whoever advised him to stay put last Thursday did him a great disservice.
So the ABC is going for good reasons around safeguarding. I hope I am wrong but I just wonder if there are those who for all sorts of varied reasons have disliked ++Justin are rather pleased to have found this excuse to get rid of him. It certainly feels a bit like that
Hmm. René Girard may have been on to something…
From not giving a hang to dearly loving in the course of one week.
This coming Sunday is ‘Safeguarding Sunday’.
The Archbishop should not be the only person taking responsibility.
The lodge of Conevo grandees and their successors who protected Smyth still need to be taken to task?
Yes, of course but by whom?
Good question!
It seems that the colluders will probably slip through the net and remain grand in their own strange dystopic world.
Is the first time an Archbishop of Canterbury has been pressured into resigning in this way? Other than those Archbishops who were burned at the stake, beheaded, or murdered by the King’s mates?
I am pretty angry about this. I think that the church is treating ++Justin appallingly. I think the likes of Ian Paul, Marcus Walker, Giles Fraser should hang their heads in shame for leading a witch-hunt to remove a fine archbishop and a good man who has done a huge amount under his unwanted tenure. I know he failed to act in this instance terribly, but to lead and orchestrate and coerce this kind of action is defacing to the church and these pompous wannabees should go too. After all – they are not all part of a dysfunctional General… Read more »
It is not a witch hunt. It is about responsibility and culture. Have you read Bishop Helen Anne’s statement on Newcastle Diocese site about coercive views? Brave Bishop!
This is not just about safeguarding, people wanted him out and this has enabled that to happen
I would not dismiss the likelihood of the parallel agenda. Archbishop Welby recently went public with a slight shift in his thinking on sex in same sex relationships —see the Rest is Politics interview–with relationships taking a place along side biblicism. The conservative lobby, which under all the biblical and/or theological blah blah remains, ‘it’s not Adam and Steve, it’s Adam and Eve’ had already wound up to disavow him. Unfortunately the quest for the next ABC may make that heteronormative agenda, rather than the need for safeguarding reform, the larger voice going forward.
PS I speak as someone who was groomed at a similar public school to Winchester, so don’t think I am just barking from the sidelines. More grace please.
I can’t help observing how the Church seems to mirror the secular world rather than being an incarnation of a restored kingdom. Problem arises: commission a report. Report is published: years later than appropriate. Read the report: 253 pages. Meditate on the report – personally I’m not sure the report should have highly speculative statements like “on the balance of probabilities, the Archbishop wold have known X” which clearly undermine in the reader a belief in his credibility – which would not stand up in a court of law. My own view is that Archbishop Welby is not the person… Read more »
Personally I think the chief executive of an organisation which allowed a report as important as Makin to be so badly delayed (and to have such restrictions to scope) needs to be replaced.
So William Nye must go?
Genuinely I would sign that petition
Prayers for Mother Church.
But if this needs to happen then, by God’s grace, it needs to happen:
There has been a lot of talk recently about the C of E behaving like a plc. The last few days have felt like disgruntled shareholders campaigning to get rid of the CEO perhaps even led by some of those who have complained about the C of E becoming a plc. We need some good C of E Catholic voices to help us explore how we are better at being The Church as the Divine Society. I am not sure I am invested in a plc but have seen myself as part of the Divine Society
Serious question (not intended to be hostile): Why does the Church of England need an ‘Archbishop of Canterbury as Primate of All England’? Why can’t they just have a presiding bishop, appointed for a term (say, five years), whose role is simply to chair meetings and be the public voice of the church? No need for all these monarchical VIP visits. Leave it at that.
I think it is an open question to what extent an archbishop and bishop authority “should” overlap or one be senior to the other. (I know there is an answer to what it currently is). The criticism of Justin seems primarily around him not doing something that was within the jurisdiction of another bishop. I think we would want a future archbishop who, if the same situation occured, would step in and phone the police himself and not feel compelled to stop because of episcopal borders. A presiding bishop sounds like more “each bishop is his/her own king” which wouldn’t… Read more »
‘A presiding bishop sounds like more “each bishop is his/her own king” which wouldn’t help.’ As a Canadian, I’ve always been struck by how centralised the Church of England is. I’ve no idea how this compares with other provinces, but our more decentralised model seems to work just fine. Perhaps you should consult TEC for how the presiding bishop concept works for them. My suggestion was not ‘each bishop his or her own king’, since I don’t think we want to compare bishops to monarchs anyway. Rather, I’d see the bishops working collegially, as ‘servants of all’ (as someone said… Read more »
Justin Welby is the 105th ABC. Something going so far back should surely be retained.
If the only argument for it is, “It’s old,” is that enough? After all, the British monarchy goes back a few years too, but the monarchy doesn’t function today as it did in Henry VIIIs time. Today we’re more democratic and collegial. Surely episcopacy should reflect that, too. After all, it has always evolved. The original episkopoi were equivalent to the presbyteroi – the team of elders found in each congregation. Later they evolved into something different, reflecting the governing customs of the day. I’m not advocating the abolition of the episcopate. I just think it needs to shed a… Read more »
The first ABC of whom I have any recollection is Michael Ramsey. To my youthful mind, the fact that he was the 100th holder of the office signified stability and continuity.
History largely… it seemed to be a good idea at the time. Just one of the reasons the US took a different approach not just in church structure but in the division of powers politically. A suggestion that is wholesome in my mind as Bishops are rarely gifted in both leadership AND management. (Not just Bishops, in most fields I think) Shepherd of the sheep is most definitely not the equivalent of CEO and has inherent conflict built into arrangements that try to be both.
I would sooner see your proposal implemented for the Anglican Communion itself, instead of the ABC being recognised ex-officio as primus inter pares. But I believe that this idea was offered to the AC primates and they turned it down. But some of them have rejected Welby anyway. Welby spent far too much of his time in office travelling around and pandering to the whims of the AC, and the views of the more conservative of them have influenced his position on the major matters of concern at home, as if he needed any further push in that direction than… Read more »
‘I would sooner see your proposal implemented for the Anglican Communion itself,’
Why?
For all the reasons you indicated in your earlier post (the one headed ‘serious question’) Although you were referring to the CofE, I think that the same arguments could be applied to the AC.
In addition, I think that the concept that the ABC is automatically head of the AC is a relic of colonialism, and would be much better replaced by a rotating ‘presiding bishop’ arrangement of the type you described.
“Welby spent far too much of his time in office travelling around and pandering to the whims of the AC …” I think Canadian Anglicans, and especially Frist Nations Anglicans, may feel very differently on that score. One of the current stated priorities of The Canadian Church is decolonization. Members of the Anglican Church of Canada (formerly the Church of England in Canada) are members of a church that both colluded with colonialism and has members who are victims of colonialism. I would understand if the C of E, given its current challenges, wanted to slacken off on The Communion… Read more »
Thank you Rory for your reply, for broadening my narrow local view, and for the link to Welby’s visit to Canada in 2022. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking of Canada when I made my earlier comments, but rather of those provinces of the Global South with their biblical fundamentalism, support for capital punishment for gays, and rejection of Welby for having the temerity not to vote against the (entirely optional) Prayers of Love and Faith. I cannot see any realistic prospect of reconciliation with people holding these views, and hence the AC seems irretrievably split. If the consequences of… Read more »
Thanks so much for your reply. Re: your final paragraph, and the question ending it, I would not want to dismiss any of that. What I would wish to do is interrogate closely the rationale for choosing some other than the office of the ABC for the ‘spiritual head’ of The Communion, the process that might be used, and the implications for various groups across The Communion. We had The Rev. Dr. Charlie Bell here last month, and he referenced the matter of the ABC and The Communion, albeit in passing, during his lecture at the divinity school. I don’t… Read more »
Thanks for your detailed reply and links to Charlie Bell’s work, of which I am a great admirer. He is so active in the area of theology that it is easy to forget that his fellowship at Girton is in Medicine! I think that I am getting out of my depth in this discussion. Intersectionality is a new term to me, which I haven’t yet got my head around. Although I am sure that, if there is to be a continuing ‘spiritual head’ of the AC, then there will need to be much discussion of the rationale, process and implications… Read more »
Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply. The conversation is much appreciated.
I sense that the ‘position’ of constituent parts of the Anglican Communion will come increasingly into focus as the changed processes for the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury come over the horizon. ++Justin has done his best to keep ‘the Communion’ on the same page/ in line/ in the same room with what may be seen as ‘varying degrees of success’ (or not). As the British Empire has decreased, and those with the monarch as their Head of State similarly, the Commonwealth has increased, though retaining a UK/GB/English ‘centre’. Presence of a Diocese in Europe, a Bishop of… Read more »