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Archbishop of Canterbury: Why did Justin Welby resign after abuse scandal?
Justin Welby said he had to take responsibility for failures since he was notified about abuse committed by John Smyth.
www.bbc.co.uk
Who was John Smyth - the barrister at the centre of the Church of England abuse cover-up?
John Smyth, a barrister who ran Christian summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, committed physical, psychological and sexual abuse against more than 100 boys and young men.
Anglican Communion - Wikipedia
Justin Welby has resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury after facing increasing pressure to stand down over his failure to report prolific child abuser John Smyth.
A damning independent review published last week found Mr Welby - the most senior bishop within the Church of England - and other church officers should have formally reported Smyth in 2013 to police in the UK and authorities in South Africa.
Smyth was accused of attacking dozens of boys, including those he met at Christian camps, in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s.
Smyth is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church of England.
He sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Zimbabwe and South Africa over five decades.
The first allegations were made against Mr Smyth in 1982, when an internal report by the Iwerne Trust referenced 'horrific' beatings of boys and young men that left some of them bleeding.
The barrister and senior member of a Christian charity then moved to Zimbabwe and later South Africa, where he abused up to 100 boys aged 13 to 17, the Makin review added.
By 2013, the Church of England 'knew, at the highest level' about Smyth's abuse, including Mr Welby, who took up the Church's top job that year.
If... [Welby] and other Church officers had reported this to police in the UK and authorities in South Africa at that time, 'John Smyth could have [been] brought to justice at a much earlier point', the independent report said.
Mr Welby had previously resisted calls to step aside over his response to the case since 2013. But amid mounting pressure, he said in a statement on Tuesday he must take 'personal and institutional responsibility'.
A survivor of Smyth's abuse also called for Mr Welby to go, saying that he felt the Archbishop's admission that he had not done enough in response to the reports meant that both he and the Church of England had effectively been involved in a 'cover-up'.
The petition calling for his resignation, which accused the Archbishop of 'allowing abuse to continue' and said his position was 'no longer tenable', was signed by more than 14,000 people.
The Prime Minister had also publicly said victims of Smyth had been 'failed very, very badly,' but would not comment when asked whether the Archbishop should quit.
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The Archbishop of Canterbury is head of the Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion, after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches... the Communion has more than 85 million members, within 42/43 autonomous and independent-yet-interdependent national, pan-national and regional churches in communion with the See of Canterbury.
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