In a paper due to be published on Monday, the Church will
seek to move in line with Britain's Equality Act by updating its rules
to permit celibate homosexual men to be promoted.
The paper, entitled "Choosing Bishops - The Equality
Act 2010", provides legal guidelines for those considering candidates
for promotion and spells out that sexuality must not be a factor in the
final decision.
"A person's sexual orientation is in itself irrelevant
to their suitability for episcopal office or indeed ordained ministry,"
the paper said.
However, the report does advise that church leaders
could block a candidate if "the appointment of the candidate would cause
division and disunity within the diocese in question".
"It is clearly the case that a significant number of
Anglicans, on grounds of strongly held religious conviction, believe
that a Christian leader should not enter into a civil partnership, even
if celibate, because it involves forming an exclusive, lifelong bond
with someone of the same sex," it added.
"It is equally clear that many other Anglicans believe
that it is appropriate that clergy who are gay by orientation enter into
civil partnerships, even though the discipline of the Church requires
them to remain sexually abstinent," the paper continued.
The Church has been urged to clarify its position after
Jeffrey John, a celibate priest who is in a civil partnership with
another cleric, was forced to stand down as suffragan bishop eight years
ago.
The guidelines will be presented before the Church's
General Synod in July.
The Anglican Church, which split from Rome in 1534, has
77 million followers worldwide and is Britain's dominant religion.