The outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has apologised for delivering a gag-ridden speech in the House of Lords earlier this week.
Welby said he ‘would like to apologise wholeheartedly for the hurt’ caused by his final speech in the House of Lords on Thursday, which was criticised as having made light of serious safeguarding failures in the Church of England.
His comments and the tone of his speech, which included a reference to a 14th-century beheading which prompted laughter from some peers, were criticised by a bishop as well as abuse survivors.
Mr Welby addressed the House on Thursday after announcing his resignation over failures in the handling of allegations against QC John Smyth – the most prolific serial abuser ever to be associated with the Church.
Speaking in his valedictory speech in the House, he said ‘a head’ had ‘to roll’, following the Makin Review into the abuse scandal, prompting Dame Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, to put a hand up to her face.
Bishop of Newcastle Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, the only bishop to call publicly for Mr Welby’s resignation in the days following the Makin Review’s publication last month, said she was also ‘deeply disturbed’ by parts of the speech.
Following the backlash, Mr Welby issued a statement on Friday apologising ‘for the hurt that my speech has caused’, saying he did not intend ‘to make light of the situation’.
The outgoing Archbishop recognised his words had ’caused further distress’ for Smyth’s victims and said he continued ‘to feel a profound sense of shame’.
The outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is seen delivering a gag-ridden House of Lords speech earlier this week, which he has now apologised for
On Friday, he said: ‘Yesterday, I gave my farewell speech in the House of Lords, as part of a debate on housing and homelessness. I would like to apologise wholeheartedly for the hurt that my speech has caused.
‘I understand that my words – the things that I said, and those I omitted to say – have caused further distress for those who were traumatised, and continue to be harmed, by John Smyth’s heinous abuse, and by the far-reaching effects of other perpetrators of abuse.
‘It did not intend to overlook the experience of survivors or to make light of the situation – and I am very sorry for having done so.
‘It remains the case that I take both personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period after 2013, and the harm that this has caused survivors.
‘I continue to feel a profound sense of shame at the Church of England’s historic safeguarding failures.’