Archbishop's peace talks threatened

The Archbishop of Canterbury flies into the biggest Anglican crisis since the Reformation today without even knowing whether his fellow Church leaders will sit in the same room together.

Dr Rowan Williams will arrive at a primates' meeting in Tanzania, east Africa, with compromise proposals he hopes can avert schism by bridging the abyss between the warring factions over homosexuality. But when he reaches the White Sands conference centre in Dar Es Salaam he will find the primates, the leaders of the worldwide communion's 38 self-governing provinces, more polarised than ever.

Even before his plane touches down the event has become mired in unprecedented levels of politicking that have challenged his moral authority as "first among equals". Read more