The Church of England is beginning its search for a new leader after the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned.
The Most Reverend Justin Welby announced he is stepping down after an independent review found he “could and should” have reported decades-long abuse of men and young boys by his former friend, the barrister John Smyth QC.
Thousands of church leaders, including members of its General Synod committee, had called for him to step down.
Here we look back at his 11 years as archbishop – and his career both in and outside the church.
LINKS TO CHURCHILL AND SLAVE OWNERS
Mr Welby, 68, was born and raised in London and attended Eton before studying history and law at the University of Cambridge.
Before she got married to his father and gave birth to him, his mother Jane Welby was a personal secretary to Sir Winston Churchill.
She had a brief relationship with Churchill’s private secretary Sir Anthony Montague Browne and in 2016 a paternity test revealed he was Mr Welby’s biological father – not her husband Gavin Welby.
This year Mr Welby released a statement to say that having traced his biological father’s ancestry, he discovered he is the great-great-great grandson of the British slave trader Sir James Ferguson.
He described the slave trade as “evil” and in 2023 the Church of England pledged £100m to “address past wrongs” after its links to slavery came to light.
After graduating from university, Mr Welby had an 11-year career in the oil industry, working for a French company and another focused on West Africa and the North Sea.
He resigned his last corporate position in 1989, saying he had a calling to join the church.
He studied theology and trained for the priesthood in Durham, where he qualified in 2012.
His first bid to be ordained was rejected by the then-Bishop of Kensington John Hughes, who he told the Daily Telegraph said to him: “You have no place in the Church of England.”
After being accepted elsewhere, he became Canon of Coventry Cathedral in 2002 where he spent the first 15 years of his Anglican career working primarily in deprived areas and abroad in Africa and the Middle East.
He was then the Dean of Liverpool between 2007 and 2011 and Bishop of Durham until 2012, when he was announced as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury – officially installed in March 2013.
As Bishop of Durham, he had already been appointed to the House of Lords, where he was invited to join the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
On publication of one of its reports, he said senior banking figures appeared to avoid information on difficult matters in order to “plead ignorance”, adding that he could have behaved similarly, but warning against the persecution of individual bankers.
FOOD BANKS, BREXIT AND ROYAL CEREMONIES
Mr Welby’s appointment came during David Cameron’s austerity era, which he later said risked “crushing the weak, the sick and many others”.
In the House of Lords, he clashed with the then parliamentary under secretary for welfare reform Lord Freud, claiming that the Conservative government’s cuts had resulted in a dramatic increase in food bank use.
He cited Church of England figures from his former diocese, Durham, and claimed the situation would have been “unthinkable” 10 years previously.
Ahead of his first Christmas in the role, he urged people to donate 10% of their typical Christmas spending to food banks.
After the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, Mr Welby said the Brexit debate was dividing society.
In 2018, he urged for a “new narrative” and the following year called on Remain supporters to “stop whingeing” and accept the result of the referendum.
During their interview with Oprah Winfrey after stepping back from public life, the duchess revealed the archbishop had presided over a private exchanging of vows three days before the royal wedding.
Mr Welby was criticised for this but said although the ceremony was unusual – it was not legally binding – therefore uncontroversial in the eyes of the law or the church.
In recent years, Mr Welby has faced several controversies.
His views on same-sex marriage have evolved during that time, suggesting that having witnessed the relationships of LGBT friends, they were beginning to diverge from the church’s strict stance.
After the Church of England’s General Synod voted to offer blessings to married same-sex couples, 10 archbishops said Mr Welby’s leadership was no longer tenable.
In an interview this year he said sexual intimacy should be reserved for “committed relationships”, including civil partnerships. Lambeth Palace later said Mr Welby was speaking in a personal capacity.
POST OFFICE SCANDAL
There were further calls for Mr Welby’s resignation when the extent of the Post Office scandal came to light.
The public inquiry into the wrongful convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters due to faults with its Horizon software saw the Post Office’s former chief executive Paula Vennells burst into apologetic tears and hand back her CBE.
She was in charge of the organisation while it used Horizon systems and when most staff were falsely prosecuted between 2012 and 2019.
Ms Vennells is an ordained vicar, with reports emerging earlier this year she had been earmarked for the role of Bishop of London in 2017 – the third most powerful in the church.
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells gives evidence to the Post Office inquiry
Mr Welby was criticised over reports he had personally endorsed her application – at a time the public inquiry heard she should have been acting to prevent the wrongful convictions.
In a book he published in 2018, he said Ms Vennells had “shaped his thinking over the years”.
This year he said “more questions should have been asked” about Horizon and “we will need to reflect on it”.
BARRISTER SEX ABUSE SCANDAL
The archbishop’s resignation came after an independent review into the most prolific serial abuser ever to be linked to the Church of England.
Barrister John Smyth QC abused as many as 130 boys and young men at Christian summer camps he organised.
He died in Cape Town aged 75 in 2018 while Hampshire Police were still investigating him.
The independent Makin Review concluded authorities may have been able to bring him to justice – had Mr Welby reported the abuse after he became archbishop in 2013.
Mr Welby was a dormitory officer at one of Mr Smyth’s camps and the pair exchanged Christmas cards for several years.
In a statement, Mr Welby said he was “deeply sorry that this abuse happened” and “sorry that concealment by many people who were fully aware of the abuse over many years meant that John Smyth was able to abuse overseas and died before he ever faced justice”.
He added: “I had no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013. Nevertheless, the review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated.”
Previously he told Channel 4 he had “given it a lot of thought” but he would not resign.
