The Archbishop of Canterbury is aware of “truly appalling” abuses of a “serious sadistic nature” and he should resign, a clergyman who has started a petition calling for Justin Welby to resign has said.

The Rev. Robert Thompson told Sky News he was not sure the Archbishop was “serious about reform” as he faced calls to resign following a damning report revealing a cover-up of sexual abuse by a Church of England lawyer.

The archbishop is 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.

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Father Thompson, one of three clergy who started the petition, said he had been in contact with different victims of abuse, many of whom still felt “not much has changed” in the church’s treatment of them.

“They feel excited, they feel neglected, they feel like people won’t meet them,” he said.

“I think the truth is that Justin makes a lot of the changes he makes because he doesn’t feel that way for the victims and survivors on the ground.”

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.

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‘Rulers in their own dioceses’

The Rev. Thompson said a “complete culture change” was needed in the diocese, but that guarding needed to be “completely independent” because “we are well beyond the point where victims and survivors within the church will accept less and trust less, and I think that’s the case for many clergy as well.” The situation is the same”.

Speaking of what he believes has become a “tremendous crisis” facing the church, he said the lack of accountability of bishops and senior staff requires a change in the church’s management.

“Hold us accountable in parliament,” he said, adding that currently bishops “can get away with so much” and “act almost like rulers in their own dioceses.”

‘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.”

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.”