MY PROFOUND SENSE OF SHAME AT CHURCH FAILURES

JUSTIN Welby was forced to quit as the Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday -over his failure to bring a child abuser to justice.

- Robert Kellaway

Victims of vile John Smyth, senior clerics and a rapidly-growing public petition had all demanded his resignation.

Mr Welby admitted a "profound sense of shame" and said he must take "personal and institutional" responsibility, adding: "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." The uproar was triggered by the Makin Review which found that in 2013 the Archbishop had failed to act against John Smyth who preyed on 130 boys and young men.

Welby sought the permission of the King before resigning "in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse" and with a "long-felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England".

He went on: "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. I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024."

Weeks ago, just before the review's findings, the Archbishop said in a podcast covering up child abuse was a "dismissal offence", adding the Church would take tough action against those seeking to protect "wicked people".

Survivors

Welby apologised for his lack of action but said he would not resign. That provoked anger across the CofE as the Bishop of Newcastle HelenAnn Hartley, abuse survivors and members of the Church's General Synod demanded he quit.

Andrew Morse told BBC Radio 4 he was abused by Smyth while a pupil at Winchester College, which he said led him to attempt suicide.

He said quitting was an opportunity for Welby "to stand with the victims of Smyth's abuse".