If the top of the Church was officially informed of the numerous sexual assaults of which a lawyer working with the institution was accused, leaders of the cult had been aware of them since the beginning of the 1980s but kept silent about them, an investigation concluded.
Published on 12/11/2024 15:43
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“I hope this decision makes clear how much the Church of England understands the need for change.” The spiritual leader of the Anglicans, Justin Welby, announced his resignation on Tuesday, November 12, after the publication of a damning report on the Church of England's treatment of physical and sexual assaults committed on more than a hundred children and young men.
These attacks were committed by a lawyer as part of his activities with the Church of England between the 1970s and the mid-2010s. John Smyth, a lawyer who chaired a charity running holiday camps with the institution, is accused of having assaulted 130 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and then in Africa, notably in Zimbabwe and South Africa, where he had settled. John Smyth, died in 2018, “is arguably the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church of England”states this report, which details the physical, sexual and psychological suffering “brutal and horrible” inflicted on its victims.
If the top of the Church was officially informed of these facts in 2013, religious leaders had been aware of them since the beginning of the 1980s but kept them quiet as part of a “cover-up campaign”concluded an investigation commissioned by the Church, in the report published last Thursday.
This departure must also show “our deep commitment to creating a safer Church”writes Justin Welby in a press release. Several Anglican religious leaders had called for several days for Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, to resign in the wake of this report.
