The Christian Post's top 10 news stories of 2024 (part 1)
9. Archbishop Justin Welby announces his resignation from the Church of England
Amid outrage over an abuse cover-up scandal in the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby announced his resignation as leader of the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion in November.
While Welby insisted he did not deliberately cover up the acts of abuse committed by a figure named John Smyth against more than 100 boys who attended Christian camps in the 1970s and 1980s, he insisted that he still bore responsibility for the denomination's failure to take appropriate action to address the scandal.
"When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow," he said. "It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatizing period between 2013 and 2024."
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An October 2024 report about Smyth's acts of abuse said his victims were "subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks."
Welby's resignation followed the circulation of a petition calling for the Church of England leader to step down. By the time he agreed to do so, the petition had garnered more than 13,000 signatures.
Even after announcing his resignation, Welby has remained in the headlines amid the fallout of the report about Smyth's acts of abuse.
During a speech before the House of Lords earlier this month, which marked his first public address since declaring his intent to step down, Welby was accused by one of Smyth's victims of striking a "frivolous tone" about "such a serious matter — a matter that has been, and continues to be, a matter of life and death to some."
"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 the case, one head that rolls well enough," he remarked. Welby added, "I hope not literally," referring to a 14th-century archbishop who was beheaded.
While the outrage over the Church of England's handling of abuse provided the impetus for his resignation, Welby had attracted negative headlines on multiple occasions throughout the year.
Two weeks before his resignation, Welby generated backlash for asserting that sexual intimacy can take place in "stable, committed and faithful" relationships, even those consisting of two members of the same sex. Critics characterized Welby's comment as a "clear departure from the doctrine of the Church of England, the Anglican Communion, and every other major Christian denomination across the world."
Over the summer, Welby invited criticism for failing to weigh in on a case involving a chaplain at Trent College in Nottingham who was barred from preaching for five years after he encouraged students to take a "balanced" approach to debating LGBT issues.
The chaplain, the Rev. Bernard Randall, was referred to a terrorism watchdog organization after telling students they should not have to "accept an ideology they disagree with," referring to the Church of England-affiliated school's newly implemented pro-LGBT curriculum.
Ryan Foley contributed to this report.
