THE Church of England’s General Synod is set to gather on Monday for the first time since the archbishop of Canterbury’s resignation, at what has been described as a time of “unprecedented crisis.”

Justin Welby’s temporary stand-in, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, will deliver an opening address to the meeting in London, but has faced his own calls to quit over safeguarding failures.

An advocate for abuse survivors has called on Mr Cottrell and other senior leaders in the church to show “radical humility,” as the handling of abuse cases once again comes under the spotlight during debate this week.