THERE seems little chance that all Canadian Anglican clergy will honour the moratorium on blessing same-sex unions requested by the worldwide Anglican communion.

ANGLICAN bishops from around the world were gathering in Canterbury yesterday for the opening of the Lambeth Conference, with the 10-yearly meeting set to be overshadowed by deep splits over the roles of women and homosexuals.

THE Vatican has condemned the Church of England’s decision to allow women to become bishops.

The Vatican today condemned the Church of England’s decision to allow women to become bishops.

ISLAM has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said yesterday.

The search for missing Madeleine McCann has centred on a group of three – two men and a woman, it was disclosed today.

Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams acknowledged after talks today that there were “serious obstacles” on the path to closer ties between Catholics and Anglicans, reflecting tensions over Anglicans’ blessings of same-sex unions and steps to ordain female bishops.

WITH regard to the ecumenical Mass held in Drogheda on Easter Sunday, demonstrating just how complex and delicate the issues are, you write (Irish Examiner, April 20), using a broad brush: “It is believed to be the first time since the 16th century Reformation that a Protestant minister has celebrated a Catholic Mass.”

The global Anglican Communion is ”broken” over the confirmation of a gay bishop in New Hampshire and may be beyond repair, the most influential Anglican leader in Africa said today.

Gay bishop Gene Robinson has said he would marry his partner “in a minute” if he had the chance.

Pope John Paul II today called for Christians to overcome the “painful trial” of their divisions as the faithful grappled with such issues as the election of a gay Episcopal bishop and hostility between Catholic and Orthodox faithful in eastern Europe.

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay man elevated to that rank in any major Christian denomination, said today that the church will survive the tumult surrounding his election.

ANGLICANS did not have to wait long for the backlash following the consecration of a gay bishop by the allied Episcopal church in the US.

The conservative Anglican archbishop of Sydney today branded an openly gay US church leader a “bishop of disunity” and said his consecration had split the global Anglican communion.

THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is to convene an extraordinary meeting of bishops to discuss the issue of the appointment of gay clergy.

The Pope today congratulated the Archbishop-elect of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and expressed hope for closer relations between Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

Twelve men, identified as members of at least three different militant Islamic groups, were arrested today and were being questioned about the weekend attack on a church that killed 16 people.