from Anglican Futures
This is the third of four blogs, which reflect on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments at the Cambridge Union in May 2025.
If you missed them, catch up on “Welby – I was being thick” and “Welby -The test of truth”.
This third blog focuses on his responses to questions about the Makin Review into John Smyth’s abuse.
John Smyth was a prolific and brutal abuser of young men. In November 2025, Keith Makin published his investigation into the way the Church of England had (mis)handled reports of the abuse. The Review states that it was, “triggered in large part by the actions of several victims, who relentlessly lobbied for the truth and learning in this case to be revealed,” and its stated aim was,“to clarify facts and dispel myths that have developed over time in relation to this case.”
Amongst many other findings, the Makin Review claimed to clarify facts and dispel certain myths about the former Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Rt Hon Justin Welby GCVO, including
- “… it was unlikely that Justin Welby would have had no knowledge of the concerns regarding John Smyth in the 1980s,”
- “Justin Welby contributed to John Smyth’s ‘missions’ in Zimbabwe through donations to the Zambesi Trust, describing this as within the context of making many other, small, personal payments to charities and Missions.”
- In 2013 ” Although the Church (by definition, Justin Welby was aware) knew that at least three people were victims of John Smyth, no actions were taken to help them in a therapeutic way, nor to find out if the numbers of people abused was greater”
- “There was a distinct lack of curiosity shown by these senior figures and a tendency towards minimisation of the matter, demonstrated by the absence of any further questioning and follow up…”
- “Promises by Justin Welby to meet with victims were not followed through in any meaningfully helpful period of time”
- “On 12th April 2019, Justin Welby was interviewed by Cathy Newman… [the] interview contained several incorrect assertions by Justin Welby”
This blog will not seek to give a comprehensive account of the conflicting versions of the ‘truth’ that Justin Welby has given over the past six years with regards to his part in the Smyth saga. Rather it will reflect on his recent comments to those gathered at the Cambridge Union, in the light of his assertion that,”the test of truth for all of us is whether we are prepared to pay the price of defending it.”
The former Archbishop faced four questions at the Union about his relationship with John Smyth: