Justin Welby became the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013. The job is the de facto head of the Anglican Church. Welby was supposed to retire in 2026. Instead, he rather suddenly announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his own culpability in the Anglican Church’s coverup of abuses.
The archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, resigned on Tuesday after a damning report concluded that he had failed to pursue a proper investigation into claims of widespread abuse of boys and young men decades ago at Christian summer camps. Pressure had mounted rapidly on Mr. Welby, who serves as the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, since the report was published last week. Helen-Ann Hartley, a senior figure in the church and the bishop of Newcastle, called on him to step aside, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer pointedly declined to back him.
Mr. Welby’s resignation brings to an abrupt end an eventful and occasionally stormy tenure, during which he became Britain’s best-known cleric, presiding over momentous public ceremonies like the coronation of King Charles III and becoming an impassioned voice on issues like migration. But Mr. Welby struggled to hold together a church cleaved between liberals and traditionalists. Though he has not been accused of any abuse himself, he was ultimately brought down by the same type of sex-abuse scandals that have toppled leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatizing period between 2013 and 2024,” Mr. Welby said in a statement on Tuesday, confirming that he had sought permission from the king to resign.
“I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church,” Mr. Welby said. “As I step down, I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.”
The Times noted that the abuses within the Catholic Church were much more widespread and yet no pope has ever resigned because of any of it (and at least two popes were deeply involved in the coverups). I saw a positive response for Welby’s resignation, basically: at least someone with authority is taking some kind of responsibility. It’s nowhere near enough, but Welby’s resignation definitely keeps these conversations in the news. Unfortunately, the Daily Mail decided to pander to their readers with this story: “How Justin Welby ‘fell under Harry and Meghan’s spell’: As Archbishop of Canterbury resigns over ‘ignoring’ prolific sex abuser’s crimes, how his friendship with the Sussexes raised questions about his judgement.” You see what they’re doing?
For centuries, successive Archbishops of Canterbury have been close with members of the Royal Family – entrusted with solemn duties such as officiating their marriages and becoming trusted voices of counsel. The 105th person to hold the position, Justin Welby, was no different, and as he prepared to lead the service of Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018, he found himself befriending the couple.
Over the years their relationship deepened and Welby was sympathetic to them following Megxit, saying the Royal Family was ‘life without parole’ and that the public expected the couple to be ‘superhuman’. He even pulled out of the most important Church of England meeting of the year at the General Synod in York in 2019 to officiate the christening of the couple’s first child Archie. The friendship continued to grow until Palace sources claimed in 2023 he had ‘completely fallen under their spell’.
However Welby, 68, was forced to resign today after a damning independent report singled him out and said the Church of England for years had covered up the abuse of more than 100 children and young men by evangelist barrister John Smyth. Questions have now been raised over Welby’s judgement after it was revealed he worked with Smyth in the 1970s at the camps where he groomed his victims, before exchanging Christmas cards with him for years.
Now following the increased scrutiny on Justin Welby’s decisions, MailOnline looks back at his friendship with the disillusioned royals Harry and Meghan.
The Mail then did an exhaustive history on Welby’s very public sympathy for Prince Harry and Meghan, which is clearly a bigger crime than covering up church abuses. Sure, he was friends with a child molester, but did you know that he ALSO had nice things to say about Meghan Markle?? It’s even funnier/sadder because the Mail has been panicking about Welby’s friendliness with the Sussexes for years. The Mail completely missed Welby’s culpability in church abuses, they were so focused on the Sussexes.
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