LONDON: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned “with regret” on Tuesday (November 12), saying he failed to ensure a proper investigation into allegations of abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.

Welby, the senior bishop of the Church of England and spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, faced calls to resign last week after a report revealed he had failed to take adequate action to stop a man he described as the Church’s most prolific serial abuser.

“The last few days have renewed my long-held and profound sense of shame at the historic preservation failures of the Church of England,” Welby said in a statement. he said.

“I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England takes the need for change and our deep commitment to creating a safer church. As I leave office, I do so with a heavy heart and with all victims and survivors of abuse.”

Welby’s tenure spanned a decade of major upheaval, during which he had to navigate disputes over gay rights and female clergy, mostly between liberal churches in North America and Britain and their conservative counterparts, especially in Africa.

Anglican churches in African countries such as Uganda and Nigeria will likely welcome the resignation of Welby, who said last year they no longer trusted him.

His successor’s key challenges will include holding together an increasingly fractious Anglican community around the world and trying to reverse a decline in church attendance in Britain, which has fallen by a fifth since 2019.

REPORT SAYS ‘RUELFUL AND HORRIBLE’ ABUSE IN CHRISTIAN MEN’S CAMPS

Welby resigned five days after the independent Makin Report singled him out for criticizing him for his handling of harassment allegations dating back to the 1970s.

British lawyer John Smyth subjected more than 100 boys and young men to “brutal and horrific” physical and sexual abuse over 40 years, the report said.

Smyth beat some victims with up to 800 strokes of the cane and provided diapers to absorb the bleeding, the report said. He would then drape himself over his victims, sometimes kissing them on their necks or backs.

Smyth was chairman of the Iwerne Trust, which funded Christian camps in Dorset, England, where Welby worked as a hostel before he was ordained.

Smyth moved to Africa in 1984 and continued the abuse until near his death in 2018, the report said.

According to the report, the Church of England knew about allegations of sexual abuse in the camps at the highest level in 2013, and Welby became aware of the accusations at the latest that same year, months after he became archbishop.

The report stated that had the allegations been reported to police in 2013, a thorough investigation could have been conducted and Smyth could have faced charges before his death. The Makin Report was launched in 2019.

Welby apologized for “failures and omissions” but said he had “no idea or suspicion” about the allegations before 2013. The report concluded that this was unlikely and accused him of failing to fulfill his “personal and moral responsibility” to ensure a proper investigation.

Church procedures for appointing a new archbishop of Canterbury require a panel of clergy and a president nominated by the British prime minister to recommend two names to him.

It has been claimed that Norwich Bishop Graham Usher and Chelmsford Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani will succeed Welby and become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.

Usher is in favor of gay rights and outspoken about the need to combat climate change.

Francis-Dehqani was born in Iran and described how her brother was killed following the Iranian Revolution. She will be the first woman to hold the office.