In 2013, an unusual scene unfolded on BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is the UK's national broadcaster. Radio: the most senior clergymanChad Varah set up the Samaritans after officiating at the funeral of a 14-year-old girl who had committed suicide. in England talking, not about matters of faith, but about banks.

This was shortly after the 2008 banking crisis brought the world economy to its knees. Archbishop of CanterburyAlthough the head of the Church of England is the Queen, the Archbishop is the most senior bishop and symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican communion. Justin WelbyThe Archbishop of Canterbury from 2013 to 2024. claimed at that time that senior executivesPeople who are senior managers in a business. in the banks had ensured they were not told important things so they could later claim they did not know about them, and admitted, "I'm not sure I would have been very different."¹

More than a decade later, some think he has proved himself right. Yesterday Welby had to resign after a review found the Church of EnglandThe main or official church in England, also known as the Anglican Church. The supreme head of the church is the monarch. guilty of a serious cover-up.

John Smyth, an evangelicalA kind of Christianity that stresses the experience of being "born again" when one accepts Christ. Christian with close links to the Church of England, and a personal friend of Welby's, was found in 2017 to have abused boys for decades.²

Welby insisted he was told in 2013 that the police were handling the matter, and that until that point he had no idea of the allegationsClaims of wrongdoing. .³ However, given his long friendship with Smyth, many were unconvinced.

Welby spent the first part of his career not in orders, but in oil. He left his executiveA person who is a senior manager in a business. job in 1989 but was initially rejected for ordinationA religious ceremony in which someone is made a priest, minister or rabbi. by the Bishop of Kensington.⁴

His defenders said it was wrong to place responsibility for the cover-up on Welby, whom the review found would reasonably have believed the police were dealing with the case in 2013.⁵

Some also feared that if he stepped down, the Church might descend into in-fighting between liberals and conservatives.

Others said under the Church's own rules, any vicar who did what Welby is accused of would face a strict disciplinary procedure. They said he needed to set an example.

And survivors of abuse said they felt his resignation was necessary to show solidarityShowing support for others, particularly members of another group. with those who suffered at Smyth's hands.

Was he right to go?

Yes: To restore trust in the Church, its moral leadership in the nation and a sense of justice among ordinary vicars, he had to go.

No: The review found Welby likely believed the police were handling the matter. It is their failure, not his. And for him to resign in these circumstances may have tipped the Church into chaos.

Or... Whether or not Welby is truly guilty, every Christian knows sometimes a sacrificial lamb is needed to pay for the sins of a community. The question is who should fulfil that function.