GEORGE CAREY, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has admitted he ordained two bishops in the 1990s whom he knew to be gay.

In his first intervention in the controversy over the appointment of Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest, as Bishop of Reading, Lord Carey said that he had been prepared to go through with their ordination after they had privately assured him they were celibate. His admission will be seized on by John’s supporters as evidence of the Church of England’s double standards in quietly promoting gay priests to senior positions but turning against a gay cleric prepared to be open about his sexuality.

The row over John’s appointment is expected to dominate this week’s meeting of the General Synod, the church’s parliament, where representatives are split over whether he should be ordained.

Last month Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, appealed for calm, but Carey’s intervention is likely to inflame opinions.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Carey spelt out his view that homosexual orientation was no bar to candidates for the priesthood or bishoprics provided that they remained celibate.

However, Carey went further than existing Church of England policy by issuing an uncompromising condemnation of gay sex: “I have kept very strictly to the traditional view held in the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church and Anglican communion that practising homosexuality is wrong.”

Carey indicated this should apply not only to priests but lay members of the church.

As for the two bishops, who have never admitted their sexuality publicly, he added: “I have no doubt of their faithfulness . . . And I want to set the record straight that I have never knowingly ordained a practising homosexual priest or bishop, nor would I ever want to do so.”

John, due to be ordained bishop in Westminster Abbey on October 9, has said he is celibate in a lifelong relationship.

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