Justin Welby, the former spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide, reiterated he had failed to ensure proper investigations into allegations of abuse within the Church of England, saying the scale of the issue was "overwhelming."
Welby stepped down as Archbishop of Canterbury in November 2024, after calls for him to resign intensified following a report that found he had taken insufficient action to stop one of the Church's most prolific serial abusers.
The report said John Smyth, a British lawyer who volunteered at Christian summer camps, had subjected more than 100 boys and young men to "brutal and horrific" physical and sexual abuse over a 40-year period.