Justin Welby, the former head of the worldwide Anglican Church, acknowledged on Saturday that he “got it wrong” regarding his handling of a major abuse scandal that rocked the Church of England.
Welby, 68, who stepped down last year, spoke in an interview with the BBC—set for full release on Sunday—reflecting on the fallout of the controversy. He resigned after a damning report revealed that the Church had covered up a serial abuse case from the 1970s and that he failed to report the abuses when they came to his attention in 2013.
The independent investigation found that John Smyth, a lawyer who organized evangelical summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, abused as many as 130 boys and young men. Smyth moved to Africa in 1984 and died in South Africa in 2018 at age 75 while under investigation by British police, never facing 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… but I think it’s easy to sound defensive over this. The reality is, I got it wrong. As Archbishop, there are no excuses.”
The scandal shocked the UK and sparked widespread calls for reform within the Church of England, whose supreme governor is the British monarch.
With an estimated 20 million baptized members but fewer than one million regular churchgoers as of 2022, the Church now awaits its next leader. King Charles III will appoint the future Archbishop of Canterbury following a lengthy selection process overseen by a former head of MI5. British media report that the new leader’s name is unlikely to be announced before the autumn.
In the meantime, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, 66, the Church’s second-highest-ranking figure, has taken over as interim head. Cottrell also faced calls to resign in December over claims that he mishandled a sexual abuse case while serving as Bishop of Chelmsford.
The Church of England, founded in the 1530s when King Henry VIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church, remains the established state church in England