We're now wrapping up our live coverage of Justin Welby's resignation.

For more on this story, our news desk have this story on the abuse scandal that led to the archbishop's resignation. We also have Justin Welby's statement in full.

The team at Newscast have also been speaking to BBC's Religion Editor, Aleem Maqbool, about why Justin resigned.

If you have been affected by the issues covered find out what support is available at BBC Action Line.

Thank you for joining us.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has resigned, days after a damning report into prolific child abuser John Smyth – last week Welby said he wouldn't resign.

In his resignation statement, Welby says he "must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024".

He says he was informed in 2013 that the police had been notified, adding: "I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow".

The report found the police referral had not been made, but that it was "reasonable to conclude" that Welby received the assurance. It also found Welby should have made further attempts to pursue the matter.

The second most senior bishop in the Church, the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, says he admires Welby for stepping down and that the Church made "real progress" in safeguarding under his leadership.

We can bring you more reaction now to Welby's resignation.

Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Revd Michael Beasley, tells BBC Radio Bristol and Somerset that it was a "difficult decision" for Welby to resign but that he has "put the Church and safeguarding first".

"What happened was he learned that the abuse had happened and didn’t follow up as fully as he now appreciates he should’ve done," he says.

Mervyn Roberts, a retired vicar from Warwickshire, tells BBC Radio CWR he feels “relief” and a “sense of justice” after Welby's resignation.

The Church was guilty of "inaction", he said, adding: "In many ways I feel a little bit sorry for the way this has all happened, but it was basically waiting to happen.

"And it would have happened under Justin Welby and it could well have happened under previous archbishops and it certainly would have happened in the future."

Pamela Tickell
BBC News, North East and Cumbria

Image source, Diocese of Newcastle

A bishop says she experienced "coercive language" from two of the most senior figures in the Church of England.

Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley published a letter, external she received from the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, relating to Lord John Sentamu's return to the Church of England after a report into how he handled a child sex abuse allegation.

In it, Welby and Cottrell stated: "To be candid, we would very much like to see a resolution to this situation which enables Sentamu to return to ministry."

Lord Sentamu, the former Archbishop of York, had been working as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Newcastle in 2023 when he was told to step down from the church. At the time, he rejected the report's findings which said he failed to act on a claim made by a victim.

Bishop Hartley then banned Lord Sentamu from preaching in Newcastle, following his rejection of the report.

Welby declined to comment on Bishop Hartley's new statement, and a spokesperson for Cottrell said the letter was not intended to be coercive.

• For more on this, read our story: Bishop accuses Archbishops of 'coercive language'

An author who profiled John Smyth and detailed his abuse within the Church of England, says that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s resignation is unlikely to bring about change.

Speaking to BBC News, Andrew Graystone says he worries that Justin Welby’s decision to quit shows the church is “ungovernable”.

Criticising a culture of “cover up and secrecy”, Graystone says that since Welby took up his post in 2013, the archbishop had tried to bring about change around safeguarding.

But, the author says “this hasn’t made a difference”, and advocates for safeguarding in the Church to be placed in the control of an independent body with expertise in the area.

As a result, he suggests that Welby's resignation alone won't be enough to improve the safeguarding culture within the Church."Throwing one archbishop under a bus and replacing them with another isn’t going to change that," he adds.

Image source, Reuters

Last week, Justin Welby insisted that he would not resign after giving it "a lot of thought".

In a statement on Thursday, the Archbishop of Canterbury said he was "deeply sorry that this abuse happened" and "sorry that concealment by many people who were fully aware of the abuse over many years meant that John Smyth was able to abuse overseas and died before he ever faced justice".

Justin Welby added: "I had no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013."

The Makin report into Smyth's abuse is a "very important step on the way to a safer church," said Welby.

But today, in his resignation statement, he wrote: "I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.

"For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.

"I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve."

Callum May
BBC News

The Rev Sam Wells, vicar of St Martin in the Fields church in central London, said Welby’s term as archbishop had brought “profound good” in many areas.

In a church blog post, external Wells wrote: “Leadership can be lonely; in today’s culture, when there is a very great wrong, there is a corresponding tide of demand that a leader visibly pay the price for an institution’s failings.

“It is tragic that a primacy bringing such profound good in so many areas, conducted by a person of singular faith, courage, humility and integrity, should end like this. But it seems the Archbishop has concluded that the unheard pleas of survivors, the degree of institutional failure, and the fact that his own role in the case was not impeccable, have together made it impossible for him to continue.

“His dignity and selflessness are an example to all of us.”

Dr Wells’s wife, Jo Bailey-Wells, was chaplain to the Archbishop at the start of his term at Lambeth Palace.

She later became a bishop and has a job as deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion.

Image source, AFP

The Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, says this is "an acutely painful issue for all involved."

In a statement on the resignation of Justin Welby, he continues: "We hold everyone who has been affected by these events over the years in our thoughts.

"We also pray for the Church of England and Anglican Communion at this difficult time."

We've been receiving some reaction from religious figures regarding Welby's resignation.

The Canon Provost of Sunderland Minster, Reverend Canon Clare MacLaren, tells the BBC: “We let down so many people, as an institution, and yet at the same time, it’s been a wake up call and a huge amount of lessons have been learnt.”

MacLaren believes Welby should have resigned immediately, which she says "would have had the most powerful impact in terms of saying: ‘We hold our hands up’.”

Reverend John Peters, of St Mary Bryanston Square in Marylebone, says anyone who knew about the situation and didn't report it should follow Welby and resign..

As we've been reporting, Justin Welby has resigned as the Archbishop of Canterbury after facing scrutiny over his failure to report prolific child abuser John Smyth to authorities.

If you're just joining, we've drawn up a timeline of the events that led to Welby's decision to stand down today, tracing back what he knew and when.

Image source, Getty Images

Prime Minister Keir Starmer "respects" the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's decision to resign "over his handling of a child abuse scandal", his spokesperson says.

"His thoughts first and foremost remain with all the victims," the spokesperson added.

Starmer, who is currently in attendance at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, told reporters before Welby stepped down that the decision would be "a matter for the Church".

More now from the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who tells the BBC that the Church has made "real progress" in safeguarding under Justin Welby's leadership.

He adds, though, that they both recognise "there is much further to go". He cites the ordination of women as bishops and Welby's work in racial justice as key parts of his legacy.

Cottrell says the Church is "a bit polarised and divided" but says "facing up to failure is the way to bring healing and reconciliation".

"Now the way can be cleared for us to carry on that work of building a better future," Cottrell adds.

Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, tells the BBC that "it's a sad day" for victims of Smyth's abuse, the Church, and Archbishop Welby.

"I admire him [Welby] for taking this decision, it shows him exercising leadership and responsibility for the failings of the Church," he adds.

He and colleagues are "looking very, very carefully" at the Makin review and will take "the actions that are needed where others are implicated", the Archbishop says.

He also tells the BBC he was part of a group that helped Welby make his decision - he spoke and prayed with him in the last week. He says Welby was not forced into this.

"It's a shameful thing", he says, of the Church and the abuse. They need to work "collectively" to make the Church "as safe as we can".

We've heard from a lawyer who represents a number of John Smyth’s victims, Alan Collins, who has described Justin Welby’s resignation as “unsurprising”.

He adds that the announcement is only a "side matter" and that “the spotlight must be on how the Church of England failed its victims so dreadfully for over 40 years".

He adds that the “immediate priority” should be the victims’ needs, and adds that today’s news “should not detract from the Church of England sorting out its unfathomable safeguarding issues".

Reverend Dr Timothy Howles says he feels sadness for the victims of abuse "who ought to be at the front of our thoughts".

He tells BBC News that the institutional response has "clearly been flawed, and has retraumatised victims over the last few years".

On the Makin report, Howles says "I think it's one of the most serious, long-standing patterns of abuse many of us will have read about. It must have been deeply traumatising to the victims."

After 2013, when Welby was informed about the abuse, there has been a "lack of curiosity on the part of senior Church of England officials who could have inquired with much more speed and urgency", Howles adds.

Graham Nicholls - director of Affinity, a church partnership group - tells BBC News "the pressure was unsustainable" and that Welby had to go.

He lost the confidence from his church, Nicholls says, and it's an "appropriate thing" to take responsibility for.

"He didn't move far enough or fast enough," Nicholls says - adding Welby had a "reasonable" degree of knowledge about the abuse years ago.

Nicholls adds there's a "sense that the church didn't care about those victims".

Before Welby's announcement, one of John Smyth's victims spoke to the BBC.

Andrew Morse was abused for four years by Smyth from the age of 17 during the 1970s and 1980s.

To him, Justin Welby’s admission that he had not done enough means the Archbishop and Church of England had effectively been involved in a "cover-up".

Morse told the BBC he believes the "cover-up" extended until 2017 when Channel 4's report was broadcast which then led to a "proper police investigation".

You can watch Morse speaking about Smyth's abuse below.

Choosing the next Archbishop takes months - and no one appliespublished at 15:15 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November

15:15 GMT 12 November

Harry Farley
News correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The Archbishop of Canterbury is head of the Church of England but they also have a wider constitutional role. The process for choosing Justin Welby’s replacement reflects that.

A nationwide consultation will be held asking people in and outside the Church of England what they want from the next archbishop. That is expected to take several months.

Church and government officials will summarise those views, along with feedback from the Church representatives in Canterbury – the area the archbishop technically oversees. That information will form the basis of creating a longlist of suitable candidates invited for interview.

No one applies for the role. Those chosen for interview don’t have to be from the Church of England and they don’t have to be bishops, although they are likely to be.

The candidates will then be interviewed by a committee of 17 people. The chair is appointed by the prime minister and the members will include representatives from around the global Anglican Communion, the General Synod, or parliament, as well as at least one bishop.

At least two-thirds of the committee members must agree before a decision is made.

We don’t have the timings for Welby’s departure but the process of choosing his successor is likely to take at least six months.

The Makin report - which was released last week - says Welby and Smyth were together at multiple Christian holiday camps run by the Iwerne Trust, between Summer 1975 and August 1979.

"We have explored with Justin Welby his relationship at that time with John Smyth. He knew John Smyth from the Iwerne camps and was in John Smyth’s dormitory for two camps," the report states.

"He has described being 'impressed' by John Smyth and reacting to his apparent power of intellect and charismatic [in the lay sense] personality. He says that they were never close, however."

It adds: "Justin Welby says that he and John Smyth 'exchanged Christmas cards' for several years", something Welby characterises as "usual for the time".

The report also says Welby says recalls "making donations" to John Smyth to help with his ministry in Zimbabwe, "but cannot remember the details of this, timing or amounts".

Welby says he was unaware of the abuse allegations against Smyth until 2013. He now says he should have done more to make sure the allegations were properly investigated.