A bishop has unleashed the wrath of God, suggesting a colleague is “the wrong person” to lead the Church of England.
Civil war erupted as senior figures are set to meet to discuss the successor to Justin Welby who quit in disgrace over safeguarding failures surrounding paedophile John Smyth QC.
Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, has been the de facto temporary leader but has faced calls to resign himself.
Mr Cottrell has come under pressure in recent months after being accused of not acting quickly enough in his then-role as Bishop of Chelmsford, over priest David Tudor, who was allowed to remain in post despite having been barred by the church from being alone with children and having paid compensation to a sexual abuse victim.
Separately, Mr Cottrell has also “categorically rejected” allegations he bullied members of a committee to secure John Perumbalath’s appointment as Bishop of Liverpool.
Mr Perumbalath resigned following media coverage of sexual assault and harassment allegations against him, which he denies.
In a furious intervention Rt Revd Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, the Bishop of Newcastle, said: “I do not think that it’s appropriate for the Archbishop of York to be in post, and certainly to be leading change that the Church needs at this time.
“I think he (Mr Cottrell) is the wrong person. I think to be in that position of leadership, you have to talk the talk and walk the walk, and you can’t have one without the other. And I think for him to have allowed that to be the case, to allow Tudor to remain in post, I do find it abhorrent.”
Mr Cottrell, who took over most of Mr Welby’s responsibilities when he resigned as archbishop of Canterbury, has so far resisted calls to quit, previously saying he would “do what I can” to bring about independent scrutiny of safeguarding in the Church.
Ms Hartley said she still feels like a lone voice in the public discussion of the leadership of the Church, noting a colleague was reported as having described her as the “bishop of negativity”.
Ian Paul, who was one of the people behind a petition last year calling on Mr Welby to resign, said: “There’s never been anything like this in our lifetime, because the Church is in an unprecedented crisis.”
The church erupted in crisis after the Makin Review set out a series of failings around Christian camp leader and serial abuser Smyth.
The report, published in November, led to the resignation of Mr Welby after it concluded the predator might have been brought to justice had the archbishop formally reported him to police.
The review found Smyth attacked as many as 130 boys and young men, including at Christian summer camps.
The independent investigation, published in November, concluded he might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby come forward to police.
Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while still under investigation by Hampshire Police.
Mr Welby formally stepped down in January.
The public is able to submit suggestions for his successor via the Church of England website to the Crown Nominations Commission – the body charged with nominating the new archbishop.
Candidates must be aged at least 30 and generally younger than 70 and historically they have been people already holding senior leadership roles in ministry in the Church or elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.