Former Anglican head of the world, Justin Welbi on Saturday admitted errors on a misconduct scam, shook the Church of England and forced him to resign last year.
The former-Archbishop of Cancerbury, which was temporarily replaced by the Archbishop of York in January, reflected on the fallout in an interview with the BBC, which would be fully released on Sunday.
The 68 -year -old Velbi resigned after a report that the Church of England had covered the 1970s serial Abuse case and failed to report abuses to the authorities when he came to his attention in 2013.
According to independent investigation, John Smith, a lawyer, who organized the E.sil Summer Camp in the 1970s and 1980s, was responsible for the misuse of 130 boys and young men.
In 2018, Smith died in South Africa at the age of 75, while the British police investigated. He never faced any criminal charge.
Welbi told the BBC, “Every day more cases were coming across the desk … in the past, not sufficiently dealt with.”
“It was heavy, trying to give a priority – but I think it is easy to make a defensive sound on it,” he said.
“The reality is that I found it wrong. As a archbishop, there is no excuse.”
‘Disbelief for institutions’
The scam shook Britain and inspired a comprehensive call to improve the Church of England, whose highest governor is the British Emperor.
However, Velbi warned: “I think there is a crowd for the decision, there is immense … there is mistrust for institutions and a point where you need institutions to keep the society together,” said Welbi.
After the report came out, Welbi initially opposed the call to resign, insisting that he did not know about Smith’s case before 2013.
However, he eventually quit the post after a petition, demanding his resignation over 12,000 signs and the leading pastor publicly urged him to step down.
“The absence of forgiveness is: we do not consider our leaders as human,” Velbi said.
“We expect them to be right. If you want the right leader, you will not have a leader,” he said.
The Church in England has some 20 million baptizing members, but according to 2022 figures, the number of regular churchgorers is only less than one million.
The next head of the church will be appointed by King Charles III after a long selection process under a former head of the MI5 Domestic Security Service.
According to the British media, the name of the appointment will not be known till the autumn.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cotrail, the second most senior cleric of the church, has taken over as the interim chief of the institution.
COTTRELL faced a call to leave in December in December, on claims he termed a sexual abuse case wrong during his time.
Anglican Church is the state church established in England and is the date of partition of King Henry VIII from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.
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