Justin Welby has resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned, days after a damning report into a prolific child abuser associated with the Church of England.
In his resignation statement, Justin Welby said the report "exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth".
He said when he was told in 2013 that police had been notified, "I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow".
Smyth was not brought to justice before his death in South Africa in 2018.
Andrew Morse, who was repeatedly beaten by Smyth over a period of five years, said resigning was a chance for Welby to start repairing the damage caused by the church's handling of historical abuse cases.
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