LONDON (AP) — Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby ’s tenure officially ends Monday, two months after he resigned following an inquiry that found he failed to tell police about serial abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.
Welby, the head of Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, will lay down his bishop’s crozier – a ceremonial long staff – in a symbolic act that marks the end of his ministry. Most of his official functions will be delegated to the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, as the church embarks on the lengthy process of selecting a new leader.
Welby had announced in November that he would resign after an independent investigation into the late John Smyth, a prominent attorney who the inquiry said sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa from the 1970s until his death in 2018.
The 251-page report of the Makin Review concluded that Welby failed to report Smyth to authorities when he was informed of the abuse in August 2013, soon after he became Archbishop of Canterbury. Had he done so, Smyth could have been stopped sooner.
Welby’s initial refusal to step aside kindled anger about a lack of accountability at the highest reaches of the church.
The resignation comes against the backdrop of widespread historical sexual abuse in the Church of England. A 2022 report by the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse said a culture that gave more support to alleged perpetrators than their victims helped make the Church of England “a place where abusers could hide.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the symbolic head of the Anglican Communion, which has more than 85 million members in 165 countries. While each national church has its own leaders, the Archbishop of Canterbury is considered first among equals.
The process of selecting Welby’s successor is expected to take months, with the new archbishop to possibly announced in the autumn.
The British media is already speculating about the leading contenders. They include Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, who has been outspoken on the need to improve the church’s safeguarding policies. She was the only bishop to call publicly for Welby’s resignation and also criticized Cottrell over his handling of abuse in the church.
Others candidates include the bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, a former nurse; and the bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher, a beekeeper who is the church’s lead bishop on the environment.
The selection process begins with the Crown Nominations Commission, which nominates candidates for the post and other bishoprics in England. The commission will forward the name of its preferred candidate to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who will confirm that the individual is willing to serve before submitting the nominee’s name to King Charles III for approval.
The commission has 17 voting members, including the Archbishop of York, representatives of the clergy and laypeople and a chair appointed by the prime minister. The commission will also include representatives from the churches of the Anglican Communion in five global regions — Africa, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and Oceania.
Danica Kirka, The Associated Press
