The bishop of Liverpool rejected on Tuesday evening the accusations of harassment and sexual assault carried by two women against him, when the Anglican Church of England is in turmoil for his management of several pedocrime cases.
The church of the church of England Justin Welby was pushed to resign in early November because of his management of a case of physical and sexual assaults on dozens of children.
His successor also criticized
His successor, Stephen Cottrell, who temporarily took the head of the church on January 6, is also criticized for having maintained a priest who had been prohibited by the institution from being alone with children after several cases of sexual assault.
The bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath, is directly accused of assault by two women.
One of them claims that he kissed her without his consent, and also blames him for touching, according to Channel television 4.
The other accuses him of sexual harassment.
“I have always denied the accusations made against me by the two complainants,” the bishop reacted in a statement on Tuesday evening.
He claims that these accusations concern “meetings that took place in public places, in the presence of other people”.
The bishop said that he had responded to an investigation carried out in the church in 2013. Some accusations “were the subject of a police investigation, which did not follow up,” he said, saying that he is ready to participate in any new investigation “deemed necessary”.
“Although I don’t think I have done anything wrong, I took the lessons learned from this process seriously concerning how my actions can be perceived by others,” says the bishop.
In his Christmas sermon, Stephen Cottrell called on the Church to reform and “make penance” in the face of the succession of sex scandals.
The future religious leader of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will be appointed by King Charles III after a long selection process. Its name will not be known before fall, according to British media.
The Church of England is the mother church of “Anglican communion” worldwide, which claims about 85 million faithful in more than 165 countries.
