Church of England leader who married Harry and Meghan resigns over pedophile scandal
The head of the Church of England who married Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said Tuesday he will resign after a stinging report found he did not act quickly enough to help stop a heinous serial pedophile.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby — who as head of the church also presided over the coronation of King Charles III and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II — said he is stepping down over the revolting crimes of then-church-camp operator John Smyth.
Welby said in a statement that the Makin Report, an independent probe into the sick scandal that was released Friday, “has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses” that Smyth, who died in 2018, committed in Britain and South Africa.
As many as 130 boys and young men in Britain and Africa are believed to have been sexually abused by Smyth, who operated children’s camps connected to the Church of England, which Welby has led since 2013.
“When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow,” said Welby, who also leads the global Anglican Communion, of which the US’s Episcopal Church is a member.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and re-traumatizing period between 2013 and 2024,” the cleric said.
The Makin Report set off a firestorm in Britain, although Welby initially said he would not resign. Then pressure mounted over the weekend.
Welby’s office told The Post that the “precise timings” of his departure would be announced after “a review of [his] necessary obligations.”
