THE Archbishop of Canterbury spoke last night of his regret, as divisions within the Anglican Church deepened with the consecration of its first openly homosexual bishop.

Dr Rowan Williams said in a statement: “The divisions that are arising are a matter of deep regret; they will be all too visible in the fact that it will not be possible for Gene Robinson’s ministry as a bishop to be accepted in every province in the Communion.

“Those who have consecrated Gene Robinson have acted in good faith on their understanding of what the constitution of the American Church permits. But the effects of this upon the ministry and witness of the overwhelming majority of Anglicans, particularly in the non-Western world, have to be confronted . . . Precisely because we rely on relations more than rules, consultation and interdependence are essential for our health.”

The British evangelical group Reform said: “Gene Robinson and all of those bishops who supported him have decided to split the Anglican Church by stepping beyond what is acceptable. The rest of the Church now has to decide how to confirm that decision. For us, it will mean seeking reassurances from our bishops that they won’t have anything to do with those who have taken these steps.”

Archbishop Gregory Venables, leader of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America, representing the Church in Latin America, said: “The action taken by Gene Robinson is robbing us of the dialogue we could have had to find a way forward.”

The Rev Colin Coward, of Changing Attitude, an organisation that supported the consecration, said: “The highest offices of the Church can be open to lesbian and gay people without pretence.”

• A Church of England report will tomorrow call for tolerance towards homosexuals and transsexuals. It pleads for limits to diversity but does not say where they should be set and refers to the “provisionality of our reading of the Bible”.

  The report, produced by a working party chaired by the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, who was responsible for the nomination of the celibate gay Canon Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading, was completed before the furore over Canon John and Bishop Robinson erupted.

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