CANTERBURY, United Kingdom. Jan 07/LBC/ – Justin Welby has officially stepped down as the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, temporarily taking charge. Welby announced his resignation in November, following intense pressure after the publication of an independent review.
The review concluded that barrister and Christian camp leader John Smyth, believed to be the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church, might have been brought to justice had Welby reported him to the police in 2013.
Stephen Cottrell, now acting as the interim leader, has faced his own calls to resign over mishandling safeguarding issues. It was revealed that a priest at the center of a sexual abuse case was re-appointed twice under Cottrell’s tenure as Bishop of Chelmsford.
Campaigners, including Lucy Duckworth, a Church abuse survivor and policy adviser at The Survivors Trust, have called for complete reform of safeguarding within the Church of England. Duckworth questioned whether the Church’s previous actions were acceptable and highlighted that the new leader’s record on safeguarding is also under scrutiny.
Cottrell has acknowledged that things “could have been handled differently” but has pledged to bring about independent scrutiny of safeguarding in the Church.
