The only Church of England bishop to publicly demand the resignation of former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says his departure wasn't enough to solve the church's "profound failure" in safeguarding vulnerable people or ease the trauma suffered by victims of abuse.

More senior clergy in the Church of England might need to resign following the Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to step down over personal failings in how decades of "abhorrent" child abuse by the late John Smyth was responded to.

"As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse," the Rev. Justin Welby wrote in a statement shared on social media