LONDON: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned “with sadness” on Tuesday (November 12), saying he had failed to ensure a proper investigation was carried out into allegations of abuse by a volunteer in camps summer Christians several decades ago.

Welby, the senior bishop of the Church of England and spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, has faced calls to resign after a report last week revealed he had failed to take insufficient measures to stop a person described as arguably the Church’s most prolific serial abuser.

“These last few days have renewed my deep sense of shame at the historic failings of the Anglican Church in safeguarding,” Welby said in a statement.

“I hope this decision makes clear how much the Church of England understands the need for change and our deep commitment to creating a safer Church. In stepping aside, I do so with sadness along with all the victims and survivors of abuse.”

Welby’s tenure covered a decade of major upheaval during which he was forced to navigate conflicts over gay rights and religious women between liberal churches, primarily in North America and Britain, and their conservative counterparts, particularly in Africa.

Anglican churches in African countries such as Uganda and Nigeria are likely to welcome Welby’s resignation, after saying last year they no longer had confidence in him.

His successor’s main challenges will be keeping the increasingly divided global Anglican community together and trying to reverse falling church attendance, which has fallen by a fifth in Britain since 2019.

REPORT SPEAKS OF “BRUTAL AND HORRIFIC” ABUSE IN CHRISTIAN BOYS’ CAMPS

Welby resigned five days after the independent Makin report criticized him for his handling of abuse allegations dating back to the 1970s.

The report says John Smyth, a British lawyer, subjected more than 100 boys and young men to “brutal and horrific” physical and sexual abuse over a 40-year period.

Smyth beat some victims with up to 800 strokes of the cane and provided them with diapers to absorb the bleeding, according to the report. He would then drape himself over his victims, sometimes kissing them on the neck or back.

Smyth was chairman of the Iwerne Trust, which funded Christian camps in Dorset in England, and Welby worked there as a dormitory officer before being ordained.

Smyth moved to Africa in 1984 and continued to commit the abuse until his death in 2018, according to the report.

The Church of England was aware of allegations of sexual abuse in the camps in 2013 and Welby learned of them no later than the same year, months after he became archbishop, the report said.

Had the allegations been reported to police in 2013, a full investigation could have been conducted and Smyth could have faced charges before his death, the report said. The Makin report was commissioned in 2019.

Welby apologized for “failures and omissions” but said he had “no idea or suspicion” of the allegations before 2013. The report concluded this was unlikely, accusing him of failing to his “personal and moral responsibility” to ensure a proper investigation.

Church procedures for appointing a new Archbishop of Canterbury require a body of clerics and a president, appointed by the British prime minister, to put forward two names.

Graham Usher, the Bishop of Norwich, and Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford, are both expected to succeed Welby and become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.

Usher is supportive of gay rights and has been outspoken about the need to combat climate change.

Francis-Dehqani was born in Iran and spoke about how her brother was assassinated in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution. She would be the first woman to hold this position.