The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has announced his resignation after facing mounting pressure to quit over his handling of the John Smyth abuse case.
Calls for the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign were growing on Tuesday as a victim of an abuse scandal accused him of putting the reputation of the Church of England above victims.
A petition by members of the General Synod - the church's parliament - urging Justin Welby to stand down over "failures" to alert authorities about John Smyth QC's "abhorrent" abuse of children and young men had gathered more than 11,000 signatures by 12.20pm on Tuesday.
One of the victims, Andrew Morse, was among those calling for Mr Welby to resign.
Mr Morse was abused by Smyth as a teenager, with an independent report finding Smyth’s crimes could have been exposed if Church authorities acted earlier.
Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 victims to “appalling” sexual violence. He died in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire police.
Mr Morse said the archbishop’s failure to act in 2013 was a “dereliction of duty” and a betrayal of victims.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Morse said: “I think it feels like he prioritised his position and the reputation of his church above the plight of the victims and, because Smyth was still alive at that time, above other potential victims as well.”
Mr Morse, 63, added: “Yes, I do think he should resign.
“He knew in 2013, he knew the set-up, the victim group and the place where we were groomed, all the way back to the 1980s.
Also calling for Welby to resign was Rev Richard Coles, the radio presenter, who said: “Anyone in authority who knew about an abuser and did not act properly so that abuse continued should resign. Then [we need] a reset that begins with making safeguarding in the CofE independent of the CofE.”
Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley echoed the calls, saying the Church of England risked losing its "moral voice" if the situation persisted.
Ms Hartley told the BBC: "I think that it's very hard for the church as the national, the established church, to continue to have a moral voice in any way, shape or form in our nation when we cannot get our own house in order with regard to something as critically important, something that would be asked of any institution, let alone the church, which is meant to have the gospel of Jesus Christ looking out for the most vulnerable in our midst.
"We are in danger of losing complete credibility on that front."
Speaking about Mr Welby, she said: "I think, sadly, his position is untenable, so I think he should resign."
She said while his resignation is "not going to solve the problem", it would be "a very clear indication that a line has been drawn, and that we must move towards independence of safeguarding".
When the report was published Mr Welby admitted he had considered resigning but decided not to after taking advice from "senior colleagues".
After the petition was launched, prior to his resignation, Mr Welby's spokesman said he reiterated his “horror at the scale of John Smyth's egregious abuse, as reflected in his public apology", and repeated that he did not intend to resign, and said he "hopes the Makin Review supports the ongoing work of building a safer church here and around the world".
Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was "never bought to justice for the abuse", the Makin Review published last week said.
Across five decades, Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives.
Mr Welby knew Smyth because of his attendance at Iwerne Christian camps in the 1970s, but the review said there was no evidence that Mr Welby had "maintained any significant contact" with the barrister in later years.
It said that while Mr Welby "did have reason to have some concern about" Smyth, this was not the same as suspecting he had committed severe abuse, and concluded it was "not possible to establish" whether Mr Welby knew of the severity of the abuse in the UK before 2013.
