Women bishops in England Churches

London, Jul 13: Church of England declared the historic decision. Church decided to allow women to become bishops in the next two years.

"The decision to consecrate women as bishops has been taken. Everybody recognised the importance of offering safeguards and assurances to those who find it very difficult (to accept women bishops), but in the end Synod as a whole was not prepared to go as far as the traditionalists would have liked," said Lou Henderson, spokesman Church of England.

Traditionalists, led by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York told that the decision will lead to many people leaving the church.

"My organisation has 1,000 priests and about 8,000 lay people in it. None of those priests are happy. Now people have to decide whether they will knuckle under - if they do, that is not a very happy situation for them or the Church - or whether they"ll go, or whether they"ll just defy it, and I can see that happening with many people," said Broadhurst, chairman of the Forward in Faith organisation.

The decision marks a milestone for the governing General Synod, which has been debating the issue for years. But reports say many leading lights of the church were unhappy with the decision.

OneIndia News