A bishop has joined calls for the resignation of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby after a damning report revealed the Church of England covered up a lawyer’s sexual abuse.

The Bishop of Newcastle today became the most senior member of the church to call on Mr Welby to resign. I’m telling the BBC his position had become “untenable”.

The archbishop was already under increasing pressure over their “failure” to alert authorities to John Smyth QC’s “disgusting” abuse of children and young men.

A petition prepared by some members of the General Synod, the church’s parliament, has garnered more than 1,500 signatures calling on the Archbishop to recuse himself.

Independent Machine review Smyth’s abuse was published last weekHe concluded that if Mr Welby had reported this officially to the police ten years ago he could have been brought to justice.

The review said Smyth died in Cape Town in 2018, aged 75, while under investigation by Hampshire Police and was therefore “never brought to justice for the abuse”.

Smyth is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual assaults, involving up to 130 boys and young men in three different countries, the UK and Africa, over five decades.

The archbishop said he had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse” before 2013, but acknowledged that the review found he “personally could not be confident” the incident was “energetically investigated” after it was more widely exposed that year.

Mr Welby knew Smyth from attending Iwerne Christian camps in the 1970s, but the review said there was no evidence he “maintained significant contact” with the barrister in later years.

‘We must see change’

The church members’ petition states: “We believe that his continuation as Archbishop of Canterbury is no longer tenable, given his role in allowing the abuse to continue.

“For the good of the survivors, for the protection of the vulnerable, and for the good of the church, we must see change, and we share this determination with our traditions.

“If the process of change and healing is to begin now, we regretfully see no alternative other than his immediate resignation.”

Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley told the BBC today that her resignation “will not solve the security problem” but that it would “be a very clear indication that a line has been drawn and we need to move towards independence on safeguarding”.

He said: “I think it is very difficult for the church as the national and established church to continue to have a moral voice in our nation in any way, shape or form when we cannot get our own house in order.

“We are in danger of losing all credibility on this front.”

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Giles Fraser, vicar of St Anne’s in Kew, west London, described it as a “terrible situation”, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m afraid he’s really lost the trust of the clergy, he’s lost the trust of a lot of people.” his bishops and his position are completely untenable.”

Speaking to Channel 4 when the report was published, Mr Welby said he had “thought hard” about resigning, but added that he had “taken advice” from senior colleagues and insisted: “I will not resign.”

Although Smyth’s actions were identified in the 1980s, the report concluded that he was never fully exposed and could therefore continue his abuse.

The church stated that it was “deeply saddened by the terrible abuse” and added that “there is no room for covering up abuse.”