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!
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.
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 »
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?
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 »
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 »
Prayers for Mother Church.
But if this needs to happen then, by God’s grace, it needs to happen: