Former Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, has confessed that the scale of abuse cases reported to him was "absolutely overwhelming", influencing his lack of action related to serial sex abuser, the late John Smyth.
Welby endured criticism by the Makin Review, as reported by Christian Daily International, about his responsibility with the late John Smyth QC, who sexually abused countless boys and young men in the 1970s and 1980s.
The review concluded that Smyth would have been stopped sooner if Welby had formally reported concerns disclosed to him a decade ago.
Smyth was reported to be the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church of England, a previous independent review concluded. He died aged 77 in Cape Town, South Africa in 2018, after being accused of abusing boys at his home in Winchester, England, whom he worked with at a Christian summer camp in the county of Dorset in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the BBC.
In an interview with the BBC, Welby, who left office on Jan. 6 after being publicly criticised by the Makin Review, outlined the reasons for his lack of action, whilst acknowledging them as “not an excuse.”
"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, according to the BBC.
"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."
Welby, in the BBC interview, cautioned against public figures being put under pressure and warned about a “rush to judgement.”
"Having been the object of that question [over whether to resign], it's a very difficult one to answer because you think: am I letting people down? Is it the right thing to do? It's a complicated question,” Welby said.
"I think there is a rush to judgement, there is this immense — and this goes back half a century — immense distrust for institutions and there's a point where you need institutions to hold society together.
"There's an absence, I'm not talking about safeguarding here, there is an absence of forgiveness; we don't treat our leaders as human.
"We expect them to be perfect. If you want perfect leaders you won't have any leaders."
Questions around transparency of election process to choose new Archbishop of Canterbury
The Church of England is currently in the process of choosing Welby’s replacement as Archbishop of Canterbury.
On Jan. 20, Stephen Knott, the Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments, wrote to members of the Anglican General Synod, a letter shared in a press release, in which he said that by mid-March the names of three individuals would be put forward from the Diocese of Canterbury’s Vacancy in See Committee, adding that “the outcome of the election of the episcopal member(s), the Central Members and the Anglican Communion representatives will be announced.”
“Once the Diocese of Canterbury’s Vacancy in See process has concluded, the extensive consultation exercise has been completed, and the full membership of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) is known, the Commission will convene for its first meeting in May, followed by two further meetings – one in July and one in September,” Knott outlined in his letter.
“Through these meetings, the Commission will agree the ‘Role Profile’ and ‘Person Specification’ for the next Archbishop, as well as longlist, shortlist and interview potential candidates.”
Meanwhile, Rev. Andrew Goddard, a member of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) and a tutor in ethics at both Westminster Theological Centre and Ridley Hall, Cambridge, has publicly raised concerns about the process by which the new archbishop will be appointed, as reported by Christian Daily International.
The Anglican House of Bishops did not succeed in persuading the General Synod, responsible for governance in the Anglican Church, to approve changes to the decision-making process at the CNC, which is responsible for recommending candidates for vacant diocesan positions, according to a CEEC press release.
King Charles III will approve the appointment of the new archbishop via the prime minister, based on the recommendations of the CNC, once it has reviewed potential candidates.
This process, the CEEC release explained, involves consultations at various levels, with input from both clergy and laypeople inside and outside the diocese.
A Vacancy in See Committee (ViSC) within each diocese elects members for the CNC and provides a "profile" of the diocese and its needs for the commission, according to CEEC.
However, Goddard believes that "due process" has not been followed in the Canterbury diocese, where the new archbishop will be nominated. He claimed that an agreed timeline to replace members of the current ViSC had not been followed, resulting in numerous vacancies.
The CEEC reported that a second ViSC had been formed for the 2025-2027 period following Welby’s resignation, but it had not been utilized. Instead, a third committee had been instigated, overlapping with new regulations for ViSC elections agreed upon at the recent General Synod in February 2025.
These new regulations pose further questions about the process in the Canterbury diocese, added the CEEC, which stated, "This has been seen to have been done in a shroud of mystery, and it is unclear whether the latest ViSC complies with the new regulations."
"There appears to have been, and still remains, some considerable confusion and serious questions which need answering, with no less than three different Vacancy in See Committees (ViSC) being in existence in the diocese since the vacancy was announced, but with all of them potentially not compliant with the regulation,” said Goddard.
Another point of controversy is that new regulations prevent male clergy in the Canterbury diocese from being elected to the CNC, meaning the three nominees must be women, according to the CEEC. These rules require that one clergywoman and one laywoman be elected by the ViSC.
“Uniquely, Canterbury is only electing three members, so when this new rule combines with the rule that at least half of CNC members must be lay, this means that no male clergyperson can be elected,” explained Goddard, calling for “greater transparency and fuller explanations” about the processes involved in appointing the future Archbishop of Canterbury.
