Anglican Church may create 'super bishops' to avoid splitting

A new class of "super bishop" could be created to cater for traditionalists who oppose the introduction of women bishops, in a last-minute bid to avert a split within the Church of England.

Under the plan, three male super bishops would be ordained to look after clergy and parishioners who do not want to be led by a female bishop, and would be answerable only to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury.

The solution emerged last night on the eve of a critical debate at a meeting of the church's ruling body. It came as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, called for unity, saying Jesus would feel the pain of traditionalists and homosexual clergy alike.

His plea came after it emerged that talks had been held with Vatican officials. The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Rt Rev John Packer, who proposed the amendment, said: "I don't think the word compromise is a dirty word. We are all going to have to accept some limitation of where we would like to be." Read more
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