LONDON: The former head of the world’s Anglicans, Justin Welby, who resigned last year over an abuse scandal which rocked the Church of England, admitted on Saturday that he “got it wrong”.
The ex-Archbishop of Canterbury, who was temporarily replaced in January by the Archbishop of York, reflected on the fallout in an interview with the BBC, which will be released in full on Sunday.
Welby, 68, resigned last year after a damning report found the Church of England had covered up a 1970s serial abuse case and that he failed to report the abuses to authorities when they came to his attention in 2013.
According to the independent probe, John Smyth, a lawyer who organised evangelical summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, was responsible for the abuse of as many as 130 boys and young men.
Smyth, who lived in Africa from 1984, died aged 75 in South Africa in 2018 while under investigation by British police. He never faced any criminal charges.
“Every day more cases were coming across the desk that… in the past, hadn’t been dealt with adequately,“ Welby told the BBC.
“It was overwhelming, one was trying to prioritise – but I think it’s easy to sound defensive over this,“ he added.
“The reality is I got it wrong. As Archbishop, there are no excuses.”
The scandal shocked the UK and prompted widespread calls for reform in the Church of England, whose supreme governor is the British monarch.
The Church of England has some twenty million baptised members, but the number of regular churchgoers is estimated at just under one million, according to figures for 2022.
The future head of the church, who leads the world’s Anglican communion, will be appointed by King Charles III following a lengthy selection process under a former head of the MI5 domestic security service.
His name will not be known until the autumn, according to British media.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, 66, the Church’s second-highest dignitary, has taken over as interim head of the institution.
Cottrell too faced calls to quit in December over claims he mishandled a sexual abuse case during his time as the Bishop of Chelmsford.
The Anglican Church is the established state Church in England and dates back to King Henry VIII’s split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.
