Tim Welby, son of the recently resigned Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, has defended his father’s decision to step down amid mounting scrutiny over the Church of England’s handling of abuse cases.
The resignation has intensified demands for Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, to follow suit due to his alleged neglect of multiple safeguarding complaints.
Tim Welby noted that “so many people were calling for his resignation” that his father’s position had become “untenable,” according to The Mirror.
He said his father was “really, really cross that it didn’t occur to him to triple check” whether the abuse had been reported to the authorities. “The frustrating thing is I don’t think it ever occurred to him that it hadn’t been reported to the police,” he said.