The most senior cleric in the Church of England is under mounting pressure to resign after a damning report accused him of failing to take sufficient action against a sadistic child abuser.
perpetrated by John Smyth has put Archbishop Justin Welby's position in doubt after it found that he "held a personal and moral responsibility to pursue this further" once aware of it, while a cover-up had been perpetrated by the church hierarchy who knew "at the highest level, about the abuse."calling for Welby to stand down immediately.
The independent review, commissioned by the church, found that while Welby "may not have known of the extreme seriousness of the abuse… it is most probable that he would have had at least a level of knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern." It added that "it is not possible to establish whether Justin Welby knew of the severity of the abuses in the UK prior to 2013."
One of the organisers of the petition, Marcus Walker, the vicar of St Bartholomew the Great in London, told CNN he "cannot imagine" how the archbishop can carry on in his position, alleging that Welby had "lost the confidence of his clergy." The case is particularly sensitive for Welby, who was educated at Eton College, the most famous private school in Britain, and who worked at the summer camps where he met Smyth. He later exchanged Christmas cards with Smyth and donated small amounts of money to his "missions" in Zimbabwe, according to the report.
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