The News
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned Tuesday amid criticism over his apparent failure to properly investigate decades-worth of allegations of child abuse by a Church volunteer in the UK and Africa.
Welby, the head of the Church of England and the leader of the third-largest Christian communion in the world, said he was stepping down “in sorrow” for the victims, following widespread pressure from within the Church itself as well as from political figures, including from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Welby was made aware of the allegations after becoming archbishop in 2013, a report published last week found, but the abuse, which took place in the UK, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, did not come to light publicly until 2017. The new report follows a 2022 investigation that found the Church was “a place where abusers could hide,” The Associated Press reported, because of taboos around sexuality and widespread reverence toward priests.
Welby’s decision will likely be welcomed by conservative Anglican leaders in Africa, Reuters wrote, a group of whom issued a statement of no confidence in him in 2023: Since becoming head of the Church, Welby had had a fractious relationship with its more conservative wings for his liberal stance toward same-sex marriage — which angered African church leaders who considered homosexuality taboo— and toward allowing women to be ordained as bishops.