The former Archbishop of Canterbury said he was “overwhelmed” by the amount of child abuse allegations coming across his desk while in the post as he admitted he “got it wrong” when handling them.
Justin Welby resigned in November after a review found he failed to properly follow up on reports about serial abuser John Smyth, who was heavily involved with the Church of England.
Dr Welby told the BBC he was overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the child abuse problem within the Church.
“Every day, more cases were coming across the desk that had been in the past, hadn’t been dealt with adequately, and this was just, it was another case – and yes, I knew Smyth but it was an absolutely overwhelming few weeks,” he said.
“It was overwhelming, one was trying to prioritise – but I think it’s easy to sound defensive over this.
“The reality is I got it wrong. As archbishop, there are no excuses.”
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The archbishop resigned after an independent review found Smyth – the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church – might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police in 2013.
Read more: Who was John Smyth?
Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 victims in the UK and Africa to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual attacks at summer camps, permanently marking their lives.
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Allegations were first made against him in 1982, and the Makin review found Smyth’s abuse was covered up within the Church of England for years.
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He was able to move to Africa while a small number of church officers “knew of the abuse and failed to take the steps necessary to prevent further abuse occurring”, allowing him to continue abusing victims abroad, according to the review.
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It added that from 2013, “the Church of England knew, at the highest level, about the abuse that took place” because a victim came forward, but did not act on the information.
Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2018 while still under investigation by Hampshire Police.
While Dr Welby initially resisted calls to resign, the former archbishop said in his November statement that he must take “personal and institutional” responsibility for his handling of the abuse allegations.
