A senior African cleric today described the exclusion of gays as a “heresy” comparable with apartheid as a crisis summit of Anglican leaders over homosexuality got under way.

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 Anglican church's first openly gay bishop said yesterday he was praying that his appointment would not lead to people leaving the church.

The clergyman seeking to become the first openly gay bishop in America’s Anglican Church was “surprised and dismayed” by eleventh-hour allegations questioning his reputation, a spokesman said today.