Archbishop of Canterbury will end official duties in early January amid sex abuse scandal

LONDON — Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, will wrap up his official duties in early January amid an abuse scandal in the Church of England, his office said Wednesday.

Welby resigned last week after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it. His refusal to accept responsibility for failing to report the abuse in England and in Africa in 2013 kindled anger about a lack of accountability at the highest reaches of the church. Though he acknowledged the mistake, his position became untenable.

His Lambeth Palace office said he intends to complete official duties by Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York and the second-most senior bishop in the Church of England, will take over until a permanent replacement is selected — a process that will take months.

“Following the announcement last week of his resignation as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Justin intends to complete his official duties by the upcoming Feast of Epiphany,'' Lambeth Palace said in a statement. "Archbishop Justin intends very little public-facing activity between now and Epiphany, but plans to honor a small number of remaining commitments.''

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the symbolic head of the Anglican Communion, which has more than 85 million members in 165 countries. While each national church has its own leaders, the Archbishop of Canterbury is considered first among equals.

Welby, a former oil executive who left the industry in 1989 to study for the priesthood, was a controversial figure even before the scandal. He struggled to unite the Anglican Communion, which has been riven by sharply divergent views on issues such as gay rights and the place of women in the church.

The Church of England earlier this month released the results of an independent investigation into the late John Smyth, a prominent attorney who the report said sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa from the 1970s until his death in 2018.

The 251-page report of the Makin Review concluded that Welby failed to report Smyth to authorities when he was informed of the abuse. Had he done so, Smyth could have been stopped sooner, the inquiry found.