A former oil govt turned archbishop, it was hoped Justin Welby’s administration expertise would maintain the Church of England collectively because it navigated the fashionable world. Because the archbishop of Canterbury, he steered a cautious path via divisions within the international Anglican church over ordaining ladies and same-sex marriage. However it was one other persistent subject within the church – the mishandling and cover-up of historic sexual abuse scandals – that proved to be his downfall. He was as a consequence of retire in January 2026, however a damning report printed final week made his place untenable.
John Smyth, a pacesetter of Christian camps attended by individuals together with Welby, used his place to realize energy over lots of of boys. He sadistically beat and tortured not less than 130 boys and younger males within the UK, Zimbabwe and South Africa over virtually 40 years. A few of his victims took their very own lives.
A serious assessment discovered that the Church of England knew about Smyth’s behaviour and did too little to convey him to justice. The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood has been reporting on this scandal for years. She explains how the survivors felt retraumatised by the way in which the church dealt with the abuse. “I spoke to considered one of Smyth’s victims, who advised me that he nonetheless thinks about it day by day,” she tells Hannah Moore. “He nonetheless wakes up within the evening making an attempt to course of what occurred to him greater than 40 years in the past.”
Harriet explains what went so badly mistaken and appears on the measures the church has put in place to cease such a scandal taking place once more.
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