UNITED KINGDOM
The Times
Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
June 26 2017
The Times
The former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, resigned as an honorary bishop in the Church of England today following criticism of his handling of the case of a senior cleric who was a dangerous sex offender.
Lord Carey, 81, was heavily criticised last week in an independent review of the Church’s conduct during investigations into allegations against Peter Ball, who had been bishop of Lewes and then of Gloucester.
Ball, 85, was convicted at the Old Bailey in 2015 but had escaped justice in 1993 when he was given a police caution as part of a deal under which he resigned his ministry.
A report by Dame Moira Gibb found that Lord Carey had restored Ball’s permission to take church services and allowed him to preach and conduct confirmation at a number of public schools.
A trawl of Church archives found that Lord Carey, archbishop from 1991-2002, had described Ball in a letter as “basically innocent”, despite knowing of the caution for gross indecency and the suspicion that there were many other offences.
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