The Bishop of Newcastle has become the highest-ranked cleric in the Church of England to call for the Archbishop of Canterbury to step down over the John Smyth child abuse scandal.
Rt Rev Helen-Ann Hartley believes Justin Welby's resignation would be "a very clear indication that a line has been drawn" and that the Church of England must "move towards independence of safeguarding".
Pressure continues to mount on Archbishop Justin to go following a damning new report into Smyth's abuse and the related Church of England cover-up, with a petition calling for his resignation topping 4,000 signatures on Monday afternoon.
The organisers - including Rev Marcus Walker and Rev Robert Thompson - believe Archbishop Justin's position is "no longer tenable".
"We must see change, for the sake of survivors, for the protection of the vulnerable, and for the good of the Church—and we share this determination across our traditions," they said. "With sadness we do not think there is any alternative to his immediate resignation if the process of change and healing is to start now."
While there is no formal process for forcing an Archbishop of Canterbury out of office, a significant loss of confidence from the bishops could effectively make his position untenable.
Archbishop Justin is accused of not following up more rigorously on reports of the QC's abuse.
Smyth attacked more than 100 boys and young men at his home in Winchester in the 1970's and 80s.
He mainly selected his victims at Christian camps run by the Iwerne Trust - a defunct ministry organisation that ran evangelical holiday camps aimed at children from British public schools.
Archbishop Justin is said to have become aware of the abuse in 2013 when Smyth could have been brought to justice - three years before it was made public.
Smyth died aged 75 in 2018 while being investigated by Hampshire Police.
A spokesperson for Lambeth Palace said: "The Archbishop reiterates his horror at the scale of John Smyth's egregious abuse, as reflected in his public apology.
"He has apologised profoundly both for his own failures and omissions, and for the wickedness, concealment and abuse by the church more widely. As he has said, he had no awareness or suspicion of the allegations before he was told in 2013 - and therefore having reflected, he does not intend to resign. He hopes the Makin Review supports the ongoing work of building a safer church here and around the world."
