LONDON — The Church of England faced pressure on Wednesday (Nov 13) to ensure people are held to account for systematically covering up allegations of abuse, one day after the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned over a church abuse scandal.

Justin Welby quit on Tuesday as spiritual leader of the global Anglican Church, saying he had failed to ensure a proper investigation into allegations of abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.

Welby resigned after coming under pressure over a report that found failings in the handling of the case of John Smyth, a barrister who abused at least 115 children and young men before his death.

The report has increased pressure on others to be held accountable for safeguarding failures.

"We... know that some people pretty systematically covered this up, and that those people do need to be brought to account," Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, the second-most senior bishop in the Church of England, told BBC Radio.

Cottrell said there were lessons to be learned from the review, but that he was not referring to bishops.

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