Justin Welby says he failed to tackle Church of England child abuse because scale was 'overwhelming'
29 March 2025, 08:36
The former Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted he failed to tackle the abuse scandal in the Church of England because of the "overwhelming" scale of the problem.
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Dr Welby resigned in November after a report revealed he did not adequately follow up on reports about serial abuser John Smyth, who was heavily involved with the Church of England.
The former Archbishop said he failed to follow proper procedure because of the sheer scale and size of the problem.
"Every day more cases were coming across the desk that had been in the past, hadn't been dealt with adequately, and this was just, it was another case - and yes I knew Smyth but it was an absolutely overwhelming few weeks," he said.
"It was overwhelming, one was trying to prioritise - but I think it's easy to sound defensive over this.
"The reality is I got it wrong. As archbishop, there are no excuses," he told the BBC.
The Makin Review last year found Smyth had subjected as many as 130 boys and young men to traumatic attacks across five decades in three different countries in the UK and Africa.
The review found Smyth might have been brought to justice had Dr Welby formally reported him to police five years before the barrister's death in 2018.
While he initially resisted calls to resign, the former archbishop said in his November statement that he must take "personal and institutional" responsibility over his handling of the abuse allegations.
Dr Welby said he was concerned there could be a "rush to judgment" about public figures faced with controversies and whether to resign.
Reverend Dr Ian Paul is 'incensed' by Justin Welby's 'typical non-apology' in the House of Lords
Welby told the House of Lords in December it was “clear” he had to resign after the damming report was made public.
In his valedictory speech to the chamber, the Archbishop said: "The reality is that there comes a time if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility where the shame of what has gone wrong, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll.
"And there is only, in this case, one head that rolls well enough."
A senior bishop hit out at Welby after his speech, slamming his “tone” and accusing him of “making light” of the sexual abuse scandal.
Bishop of Newcastle Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, the only bishop to call publicly for Mr Welby's resignation in the days following the Makin Review's publication last month, said she was "deeply disturbed" by parts of the speech.
