Justin Welby quits as Archbishop of Canterbury

In the past few minutes, Justin Welby has announced he is resigning as Archbishop of Canterbury over his handling of serial child abuser John Smyth. In a statement, he said ‘it is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024’. He says he believes stepping aside ‘is in the best interests of the Church of England’.

At the end of last week, Welby had said he had considered resigning, and had decided that it would not be in the best interests of the church to do so. So what changed? Like so many resignations, it came after those both inside the church and outside made it very clear that they did not agree that Welby staying on was in the best interests of the church after all. After the Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley urging him to resign, and members of the General Synod had circulated a petition calling for his immediate departure, it was difficult to see how Welby would have the authority to continue at a very fraught time for the church.