The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has admitted to “personal failures” regarding his handling of the abuse allegations against John Smyth.
In an interview with BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, Welby said he “should have pushed harder” for a more thorough investigation into the claims.
In November, the 70-year-old resigned following the publication of the Making Report, a long-awaited internal investigation into sexual abuse allegations against Smyth, thought to have subjected more than 100 boys to various types of abuse during the 1970s and 80s. The report described Smyth as the most prolific abuser linked to the Church of England.
At the time of the report’s publication, Welby had initially declined to resign, instead issuing a statement acknowledging the pain of victims and survivors and apologising for the institutional failures. However, his response faced criticism from victims, survivors, and activists, leading to his resignation.
In his interview with Kuenssberg, Welby explained the change of heart. “Over that weekend, as I read it and reread it, and as I reflected on the horrible suffering of the survivors—which, as many of them said, had been more than doubled by the institutional Church's failure to respond adequately—it became increasingly clear to me that I needed to resign.”
He continued: “I think I was not sufficiently pushy in a way that I would have been a few years later. I had first heard about Smyth's offences in August of 2013. I’d been in post for eleven weeks, and safeguarding was a crisis I hadn’t foreseen. I didn’t realise how bad it was.”
Welby acknowledged his failures: “I should have pushed harder because I knew enough to know that people, very rarely, almost never abuse once.”
The Making Report revealed that Welby had been aware of the allegations since 2013 and concluded that he should have alerted the authorities sooner.
When asked about this, Welby said: “Just for the avoidance of doubt, I am utterly sorry and feel a deep sense of personal failure—both for the victims of Smyth, for not picking up on it sufficiently after 2017 when we knew the extent of it, and for my own personal failures.”
“I still feel responsible,” he added, reflecting on how the abuse claims were handled.
Asked how many people within the Church had known about the abuse, the former Archbishop explained: “What I know is that the national safeguarding team, about three weeks ago, issued a statement, which you probably saw, saying that there were roughly a dozen individuals going through the disciplinary process. A lot of them have passed away, but there are a dozen still undergoing a CDM (Clergy Discipline Measure). Incidentally, at that time, they said they hadn’t discovered anything I did—or didn’t do—that would warrant a CDM, which was an interesting point. I still feel responsible, but that’s a different question.”
Welby also expressed regret about his final speech in the House of Lords, which caused anger among abuse victims last year due to its seemingly light-hearted tone. Reflecting on the incident, he said: “I wasn’t in a good space at the time. I shouldn’t have done a valedictory speech at all. It did cause profound upset, and I am profoundly ashamed of that. I apologised within 24 hours, and I remain deeply ashamed. It was entirely wrong and entirely inexcusable.”
He acknowledged that his remarks—particularly referencing a 14th-century beheading that drew laughter from the Lords benches—had been inappropriate. “When I think of it, I just wince. It was entirely wrong.”
Asked if he felt he had been “cancelled,” Welby responded: “We won’t know that for 30 or 40 years, and I’ll be dead by that time. I don’t know. I can’t answer that question. You’d have to ask others. I know that I let God down, I let people down.”
Welby also said he would forgive John Smyth if he were still alive today.
“Yes, I think if he was alive and I saw him,” Welby said when asked if he could forgive the now-deceased clergyman. However, he stressed: “It’s not me he has abused. He’s abused the victims and survivors. So, whether I forgive or not, it’s to a large extent irrelevant. What matters is: Are the survivors— and everyone responds differently to abuse—sufficiently loved by the Church and cared for, and are they enabled and liberated to rebuild their lives? After that, you can start talking about forgiveness.”
When asked if he sought forgiveness from Smyth’s victims, Welby responded: “Obviously, but it’s not about me. When we talk about safeguarding, the centre of it is the victims and survivors. I have never, ever said to a survivor, ‘you must forgive,’ because that is their sovereign, absolute individual choice. Everyone wants to be forgiven, but to demand forgiveness is to abuse again.”
In a statement, the Church of England said: “The interview with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby will be a reminder to Smyth survivors of their awful abuse and its lifelong effects. They continue to be offered support, and we are deeply sorry for the abuse they suffered.
"If anyone comes forward to the Church today with a concern, they will be heard and responded to carefully and compassionately by safeguarding professionals according to our clearly set out guidance. In the past 10 years, the Church has developed and strengthened its safeguarding policies and practices, making significant improvements in training, national safeguarding standards and external audits, and continues to do so."