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Justin Welby has formally ended his 11-year tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, laying down his bishop’s staff.
Mr Welby ceases to hold the leading role within the Church from midnight, with the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell taking charge temporarily.
His last day as the 105th See of Canterbury, which was also his 69th birthday, was filled with a full schedule of events.
Mr Welby announced his resignation in November, following days of pressure after the publication of an independent review which concluded barrister and Christian camp leader John Smyth – thought to have been the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church – might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police in 2013.
Having spent Monday privately at his London residence, Lambeth Palace, he laid down his bishop’s crozier – a ceremonial long staff – in a symbolic act which marks the official end of his ministry as Archbishop of Canterbury after a service of Evensong.
From Tuesday, most of the official functions normally held by the Archbishop of Canterbury will be delegated to Mr Cottrell. Some will go to the Bishop of London Dame Sarah Mullally, and the diocesan functions will be carried out by the Bishop of Dover Rose Hudson-Wilkin.
However, Mr Cottrell has faced calls to resign over mishandling of safeguarding, after revelations that a priest at the centre of a sexual abuse case was twice re-appointed under him while he was serving as Bishop of Chelmsford.
He has acknowledged things “could have been handled differently” but, appearing to reject calls to quit, has pledged to “do what I can” to bring about independent scrutiny of safeguarding in the Church.
Campaigners have warned safeguarding in the Church of England must undergo “complete reform” following failures at the top of the church’s leadership.
Lucy Duckworth, a Church abuse survivor and policy adviser at The Survivors Trust, told the PA news agency there remains “a question for those within the Church as to whether they have trust and faith that previous actions have been acceptable”.
She said: “The Church now has a new leader whose record on safeguarding has also been called into question, like Justin Welby’s was.”
Ms Duckworth said nothing less than complete reform of how the Church handles safeguarding when it comes to child abuse will do.
She added: “We know there is now such a problem (with safeguarding in the Church), we need to stop focusing the failures on individual leaders and start looking at complete reform of safeguarding within the Church of England.
“The only way to do that is for independent safeguarding and that’s going to be voted on in February at Synod (the Church’s parliament).
“We trust that Stephen Cottrell and all of the bishops will be voting for that in full.”
The process to replace Mr Welby is expected to take months, with an announcement about a new archbishop of Canterbury possible in autumn.
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