Anglican church to appoint a 'presidential' figure

NEWS: The Anglican church is planning to hand over some of the global duties of the Archbishop of Canterbury to a "presidential" figure, it has been reported.

Dr Rowan Williams, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, said plans are being drawn up for a role to oversee the day-to-day running of the Anglican communion and its 77 million members, leaving the archbishop free to concentrate on leading the Church of England.

The tenure of the archbishop, who steps down after 10 years in December, has been marked by a war between liberals and traditionalists in the Church of England and the wider Anglican communion over the issue of homosexuality, including the ordination of gay bishops. There has also been a row over female clergy.

Admitting he may not have got it right, he said the top job might better be done by two people. "I don't think I've got it right over the last 10 years, it might have helped a lot if I'd gone sooner to the United States when things began to get difficult about the ordination of gay bishops, and engaged more directly. I know that I've, at various points, disappointed both conservatives and liberals. Most of them are quite willing to say so, quite loudly."

Of the new role, he said: "It would be a very different communion, because the history is just bound up with that place, that office [archbishop]. So there may be more of a sense of a primacy of honour, and less a sense that the archbishop is expected to sort everything."

The role would be for a "presidential figure who can travel more readily".

The 62-year-old, who is to become master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, said the church had treated homosexuals badly. But he reiterated his opposition to gay marriage, saying its legalisation could create a "tangle" between the church and the government.

The paper reported that he also voiced concern that there are not enough Christians in politics and that the relationship between the church and the monarch may change when the "more quizzical" Charles succeeds the current Queen.