Justin Welby can’t seem to get anything right these days – not even his own leaving speech. Now the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury has been forced to apologise for the gag-filled monologue he delivered to the House of Lords on Thursday after causing a rather lot of offence with his choice of language. Dear oh dear…
The Archbishop today announced he ‘would like to apologise wholeheartedly for the hurt’ he caused after his quite controversial remarks – including a reference to an historic beheading – went down badly with both abuse survivors and fellow bishops. Nodding to the Makin Review into an abuse scandal in the Church which was the catalyst for the Archbishop’s resignation, Welby told his audience a ‘head’ had to ‘roll’, adding: ‘If you pity anyone, pity my poor diary secretary who’s seen weeks and months of work disappear in a puff of my resignation announcement.’ Er, right. The ill-judged monologue caused Bishop of London Sarah Mullally to facepalm while the Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley later admitted she was ‘deeply disturbed’ by parts of the talk. Crikey. Hardly playing to the crowd, eh?
The outgoing Archbishop has since issued a statement detailing his regret about the latest debacle he has become embroiled in, stating today:
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. I 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.
And once again, Welby finds himself apologising for poor judgement calls. Will he ever learn?
Watch the speech here:
Justin Welby's comments in the House of Lords about his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury: pic.twitter.com/5cY0opMvat
— Kaya Burgess (@kayaburgess) December 5, 2024
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