RMC Briefing: 'Seismic shock' as Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigns over abuse scandal

The resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury has left the Church of England reeling. There is consensus that he had no option after the publication of the Makin report which exposed the horrific abuse of young men and boys by the barrister, John Smyth, and a decades-long cover-up by the Church of England.

Smyth led Christian summer camps run by the Iwerne Trust which Justin Welby attended as a young man. From the mid-1970s, Smyth groomed boys and then took them back to his garden shed where they were beaten until they bled. The abuse was known about in the church from the early 1980s but was covered up. Smyth left the country and died in 2018, having never been brought to justice.

In a statement, Justin Welby said he was taking personal and institutional responsibility for the failure to act on the John Smyth abuse between 2013 and 2024 and had a profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. His resignation, which is without precedent, has been described as a seismic shock. Roger Bolton hosts this discussion with guests:

• Andrew Graystone, author of Bleeding for Jesus, an account of John Smyth's abuse
• Susie Leafe, Director of Anglican Futures
• Mark Stibbe, survivor, author and former vicar
• Frances Martin, reporter with the Church Times
• Professor Linda Woodhead, King's College, London
• Prof Helen King, member of the General Synod

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