The Church of England has moved a step closer to the consecration of women bishops, setting up a possible showdown with traditionalists who back all-male clergy in the Anglican communion.
Draft legislation introduced at the weekend said women should be consecrated as bishops on the same basis as men, disappointing the Anglo-Catholic and evangelical wings of the Church. which had wanted a "two-tier" system.
Some are now likely to consider Pope Benedict's offer last October to make it easier for Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholicism.
The Pope is to visit Scotland and England in September on a trip already mired in controversy.
The liberal wing of the Church of England, which has campaigned for women bishops ever since the first woman priest was ordained 16 years ago, welcomed the draft legislation.
"It is now right for the Church of England as a whole to accept women and men as equal before God in all parts of its ministry," Women and the Church, a group which champions women bishops, said in a statement.
Comments
Comments are closed.