LONDON (Reuters) – Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said on Wednesday it was shameful and disgraceful that the Church of England had failed to protect children from sexual predators within its ranks for decades.
An inquiry that reported on Tuesday found the Church allowed abusers to hide in an attempt to defend its own reputation rather than following its duty to protect young people.
“Its shameful and disgraceful and reveals exactly what they said – a culture in which there was cover-up and hiding – and it is deeply shaming,” Welby, the spiritual head of the Church, told the BBC of the child abuse inquiry report.
“It didn’t come at as a surprise,” Welby said, adding that the church had begun what he cast as “a journey of change”. “We have not gone quick enough or far enough yet.”
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Paul Sandle and Alex Richardson)
