Church leader faces tough questions over child abuse case knowledge
Top religious figure **Justin Welby** faces accusations of hiding truth about major abuse case. New report shows he might have known more than claimed about youth camp leaderʼs crimes
The head of Church of England Justin Welby faces serious questions about his knowledge of wide-spread abuse at christian youth camps. A just-released report shows that John Smyth‚ who passed away in late-2018 hurt at least 115 young people across three countries during his five-decade long activities
I genuinely had no idea that there was anything as horrific as this going on
Andy Morse‚ one of the hurt people dont believe this statement: the evidence suggests that back in 2013 (when Welby first got official info) there was enough data to raise red flags. The reportʼs author – ex-social services director Keith Makin points out that Welby got warnings to “stay away“ from Smyth way back in early-80s
The investigation shows that police could have caught Smyth earlier if church leaders acted faster. Channel-4 news found out that he used harsh physical punishment on kids; some got hundreds of hits for small rule-breaks. After the TV show came out in 2017 police started looking into it but Smyth died before facing any charges
A group of high-ranking church members started asking for Welbyʼs stepping down; however his office says he wont resign. They say he “had no real knowledge“ before 13ʼ and feels very sorry about what happened. The statement also mentions that this review should help make churches safer world-wide
