Archbishop Rowan Williams’ three-day visit, which began Thursday with a lecture and ends Saturday with a papal audience, was scheduled before the Vatican announced it was making it easier for traditional Anglicans upset over the ordination of women and gay bishops to become Catholic.

The Vatican has said it was merely responding to the many Anglican requests to join the Catholic Church and has denied it was poaching for converts in the Anglican pond.

But the move has already strained Catholic-Anglican relations and is sure to affect Williams’ 77-million worldwide Anglican Communion, which was already on the verge of schism over homosexuality and women’s ordination issues before the Vatican intervened.

In a speech at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Williams was gracious in referring to the Vatican’s new policy, which he called the “elephant in the room.” The policy was an “imaginative pastoral response” to requests by some Anglicans but broke no new doctrinal ground, Williams said.

He spent the bulk of his speech describing the progress that had been achieved so far in decades of Vatican-Anglican ecumenical talks and questioning whether the outstanding issues were really all that great.

“The ecumenical glass is genuinely half full,” the archbishop said.

Anglicans split from Rome in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment. For decades, the two churches have held theological discussions on trying to reunite, part of the Vatican’s broader, long-term ecumenical effort to unify all Christians.

But differences remain and the ecumenical talks were going nowhere as divisions mounted between liberals and traditionalists within the Anglican Communion itself.

While acknowleging the outstanding differences with Rome, Williams suggested that a way forward might be to embrace a “diversity of types of communion,” in which communion could be achieved but not with a “single juridically united body.”

The Vatican official in charge of relations with Anglicans, Cardinal Walter Kasper, also sought to put a positive interpretation on the future, drawing a clear distinction between the doctrinal talks on unification and questions of conversion.

“We cannot close our doors when others knock on them. But this does not exonerate us from” pursuing the broader unification of the churches as institutions, he said in a speech to the Gregorian symposium.

The new policy allows Anglicans to convert to Catholicism but retain many of their Anglican liturgical traditions, including married priests. The Vatican will create the equivalent of new dioceses, so-called personal ordinariates, for these former Anglicans that will be headed by a former Anglican priest or bishop.

Estimates on the number of possible converts has ranged from a few hundred to thousands.

The new policy has elicited heated criticism in Britain, both in Anglican and Roman Catholic circles. Catholic theologian Nicholas Lash said it was “disgraceful” that the Vatican devised the policy without even consulting Catholic bishops, much less Anglican ones.

Williams, for example – the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion – wasn’t even informed of the change until right before it was announced.

Kasper referred to the criticism in his speech, saying that in the future issues of both conversion and ecumenism “should be undertaken in the greatest possible transparency, tactfulness and mutual esteem in order not to entail meaningless tensions with our ecumenical partners.”

One group that has cheered the new policy is the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), which split from the Anglican Communion in the early 1990s after the first women were ordained Anglican priests. The TAC, which has long sought to come under Rome’s wing, says it has 400,000 members in 41 countries, although only about half are regular churchgoers.

Already, TAC’s British province has voted to take Rome up on its invitation. TAC leader Archbishop John Hepworth has said he anticipates others will follow.

It remains to be seen how the new policy will affect Pope Benedict XVI’s planned trip to Britain next year. One thing is likely, however: The Vatican will surely hold out the upcoming beatification of the most famous Anglican convert, Cardinal John Henry Newman, as a symbol of bridge-building, since the 19th century theologian is a hero to many Anglicans and Catholics alike.

The Holy See press office released rules and guidelines, known as an Apostolic Constitution, as part of efforts to make it easier for disillusioned, traditionalist Anglicans to cross over to the Roman Catholic fold.

Under the Vatican’s initiative, Anglicans, turned off by their own church’s embrace of openly gay clerics, women priests and blessing of same-sex unions, can join new parishes, called “personal ordinariates” that are headed by former Anglican prelates

Vatican officials had previously stressed that married Anglican priests would be allowed to remain in the priesthood on a case-by-case basis as they join the Roman Catholic fold.

Still, the Vatican’s decision to allow Anglicans to keep some aspects of their liturgy and identity had raised questions over whether the Roman Catholic requirement for celibacy might change.

On Monday, the Vatican reaffirmed its resolve to leave the celibacy requirement unchanged.

“The possibility envisioned by the Apostolic Constitution for some married clergy within the personal ordinariates does not signify any change in the Church’s discipline of clerical celibacy,” the Vatican said.

It praised priestly celibacy as “a sign and a stimulus for pastoral charity.”

Apparently seeking to squash any speculation that Rome had been courting the disaffected Anglicans, the Vatican said the “Holy Spirit” inspired Anglicans to “petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion” individually and as a group.

The Vatican also sought to justify setting up new structures to accommodate any Anglican desire to convert.

Simply assimilating Anglicans in existing dioceses would have led to the “loss of the richness of their Anglican tradition,” the Vatican said.

Allowing them to keep liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions, with Vatican approval, brings the Catholic church “a precious gift,” the new document said.

The rules also confirmed statements by Vatican officials that while married Anglican bishops could be ordained as priests after converting to Roman Catholicism, they will lose bishop’s rank.

But Rome said these former bishops could be invited to participate in meetings of local Catholic bishops’ conferences “with the equivalent status of a retired bishop.”

Without elaborating on the theology involved, the new rules said “many doctrinal questions have had to be addressed, and such questions will continue to arise” as the Anglican converts join their Roman Catholic brothers.

Pope Benedict XVI, at the helm of a 1.1 billion member Church, has made it a priority of papacy to press for unity of all Christians, including the 77 million-strong Anglican communion worldwide.

Both the Vatican and the Anglican Church have pledged to continue unity efforts.

The Vatican’s reaching out to the would-be converts doesn’t “deflect” the Church of England from its “long-standing commitment to seeking the unity of all the Churches, including the Roman Catholic church,” said the Rt. Rev. Christopher Hill, bishop of Guildford, England, and chairman of the Church of England’s Council for Christian Unity.

The Church of England was established in 1534 when English monarch Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment by Rome.

A surprise Vatican decision, announced 10 days earlier to make it easier for Anglicans to become Roman Catholics while retaining aspects of Anglican liturgy and identity, had left some wondering whether Rome would embrace married Anglican clergy in large numbers.

A Holy See statement Saturday quoted Cardinal William Levada, the Holy See’s guardian of doctrinal correctness, as saying the Vatican would consider accepting married Anglican priests into the Roman Catholic priesthood as it has in the past – evaluating each case on its own merits.

The Roman Catholic church requires its priests to be celibate, except in the case of the Eastern rite Catholics, who are allowed to be ordained if married. But over the last decades, it has also quietly allowed married Anglican clergy to stay priests when converting to Catholicism.

In no case could a married man become a bishop, and the new rules would exclude any married Anglican bishop from retaining that post.

As for possibly admitting married Anglican seminarians to the Catholic priesthood, Levada said “objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed” for approval by the Holy See.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi dismissed what he called some media speculation that there was “disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy” among converting Anglicans.

He quoted Levada as saying “there is no substance to such speculation,” and that the only reason why the rules regarding the converting Anglicans haven’t been published yet was due to “technical” reasons. He predicted work on the new rules would be completed by the end of the first week of November.

Pope Benedict XVI has dedicated a good part of his papacy since 2005 welcoming traditionalists into Rome’s fold.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide, wasn’t consulted about the changes but will have the opportunity to discuss the state of Catholic-Anglican relations when he meets with Benedict on Nov. 21 during a visit to Rome.

The Vatican’s easing the way for Anglicans to convert might undermine decades of efforts between the Holy See and Anglican leaders over how they might possibly unite.

Anglicans split with Rome in 1534 when the Vatican refused to give English King Henry VIII a marriage annulment. The Anglican communion includes the Episcopalian Church in the United States.

Some Anglican faithful, unhappy over progressive reforms in their church, consider themselves Catholics although they have not yet officially joined the Roman Catholic church.

Anglicans have been divided over such issues as admitting women to the priesthood. The rift was torn wide open in 2003, when the Episcopal Church in the United States consecrated V. Gene Robinson, as the first openly gay bishop.

Also disenchanting Anglican conservatives has been the blessing of same-sex marriages.

The Global South alliance, made up of theologically conservative primates from developing countries, said Sunday in a statement on their Web site that a proposed Anglican Covenant – a shared set of guidelines for membership in the Anglican church – should be adopted.

The statement comes in the wake of an announcement earlier this week by the Vatican, saying that Pope Benedict XVI had authorized an Apostolic Constitution. The constitution would allow Anglicans to move to the Catholic church, but keep their own liturgy and married priests.

In a statement posted to their Web site, the group said they appreciated the pope’s stance on the “common biblical teaching on human sexuality” but “at the same time we believe that the proposed Anglican Covenant sets the necessary parameters.

“It gives Anglican churches worldwide a clear and principled way forward in pursuing God’s divine purposes,” the statement reads.

The Global South group is headed by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola.

There are about 77 million Anglicans around the world. The church has been in turmoil since 2003, when the U.S. Episcopal Church consecrated New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop.

It is uncertain how many Anglicans will seek to switch churches because of the pope’s new policy. The Right Rev. John Broadhurst, the Bishop of Fulham, has said about 1,000 Church of England clergy will seek to join the Roman Catholic Church. Broadhurst chairs Forward in Faith, a group of traditionalists opposed to the ordination of women.

Pope Benedict XVI approved a new church provision that will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while maintaining many of their distinctive spiritual and liturgical traditions, including having married priests.

Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican’s chief doctrinal official, announced the new provision at a new conference.

In the past, such exemptions had only been granted in a few cases in certain countries. The new church provision is designed to allow Anglicans around the world to access a new church entity if they want to convert.

The decision immediately raised questions about how the new provision would be received within the 77-million strong Anglican Communion, the global Anglican church, which has been on the verge of a schism over divisions within its membership about women bishops, an openly gay bishop and the blessing of same-sex unions.

The Anglican’s spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, downplayed the significance of the new provision and said it wasn’t a Vatican commentary on Anglican problems.

“It has no negative impact on the relations of the communion as a whole to the Roman Catholic church as a whole,” he said in London.

Conservative Party lawmaker Ann Widdecombe, who left the Church of England because of its policies for the Catholic Church, welcomed the Vatican’s decision.

“I’m delighted if it does become easier, because when we had the last big exodus in 1992 over the ordination of women, the Catholic Church was not ready,” she said in London. “There were enormous discrepancies up and down the country, and the direction from the Vatican came late in the day.”

The new Catholic church entities, called personal ordinariates, will be units of faithful established within local Catholic Churches, headed by former Anglican prelates who will provide spiritual care for Anglicans who wish to be Catholic.

They would most closely resemble Catholic military ordinariates, special units of the church established in most countries to provide spiritual care for the members of the armed forces and their dependents.

“(This will) facilitate a kind of corporate reunion of Anglican groups” into the Catholic Church, Levada said.

Anglicans split with Rome in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment.

The new canonical provision is a response to the many requests from Anglo-Catholics who want to come back, increasingly disillusioned with the progressive bent of the Anglican Communion. Many have already left and consider themselves Catholic but have not found an official home in the 1.1-billion strong Catholic Church.

By welcoming them in with their own special provision, Benedict has confirmed the increasingly conservative bent of his church. The decision follows his recent move to rehabilitate four excommunicated ultra-conservative bishops, including one who denied the full extent of the Holocaust, in a bid to bring their faithful back under the Vatican’s wing.

Levada declined to give figures on the number of requests that have come to the Vatican, or on the anticipated number of Anglicans who might take advantage of the new structure.

One group, known as the Traditional Anglican Communion, has made its bid to join the Catholic Church known. The fellowship, which split from the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1990, says it has spread to 41 countries and has 400,000 members, although only about half are regular churchgoers.

The new canonical provision allows married Anglican priests and even seminarians to become ordained Catholic priests – much the same way that Eastern rite priests who are in communion with Rome are allowed to be married. However, married Anglicans couldn’t become Catholic bishops.

The Vatican announcement immediately raised questions about how the Vatican’s long-standing dialogue with the Archbishop of Canterbury could continue. Noticeably, no one from the Vatican’s ecumenical office on relations with Anglicans attended the news conference; Levada said he had invited representatives to attend but they said they were all away from Rome.

Just last week, the Vatican’s top ecumenical official, Cardinal Walter Kasper, told reporters: “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond,” when asked about the Vatican’s negotiations with would-be converts.

Levada stressed that ecumenical dialogue with the global Anglican church would remain a priority. But he said the goal of that dialogue for 40 years had been to achieve “full visible unity.”

To downplay suggestions of poaching, the Catholic archbishop of Westminster and Williams, the Anglican leader, issued a joint statement saying the decision “brings an end to a period of uncertainty” for Anglicans wishing to join the Catholic Church.

And at a press conference in London, Williams tried to put the best face on the decision.

“It has no negative impact on the relations of the communion as a whole to the Roman Catholic church as a whole,” he said.

But Williams’ representative in Rome, the Very Rev. David Richardson, called the Vatican’s decision “surprising,” given that the Catholic Church in the past had welcomed individual Anglicans in without creating what he called “parallel structures” for entire groups of converts.

“The two questions I would want to ask are ‘why this and why now,’” he told The Associated Press. “Why the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has decided to embrace that particular method remains unclear to me.”

Also unclear, he said, was the Vatican’s target audience: those Anglicans who have already left the Anglican Communion, or current members. Levada said it covered both.

“If it’s for former Anglicans, then it’s not about our present difficulties, then it’s people who have already left,” Richardson said. If it’s current Anglicans, “There is in my mind an uncertainty for whom it is intended.”

The Anglican Communion has been roiled for years over disagreement on the role of women. But the long-standing divisions over how Anglicans should interpret the Bible erupted in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Williams has struggled ever since to keep the church from splitting, frustrated by moves by churches in the United States, Canada and elsewhere to bless gay relationships.

At least four conservative U.S. dioceses and dozens of individual Episcopal parishes have voted to leave the national denomination since 2003, with many affiliating themselves instead with like-minded Anglican leaders in African and elsewhere.

The Vatican announcement was kept under wraps until the last moment: The Vatican only announced Levada’s briefing Monday night, and Levada only flew back to Rome at midnight after briefing Catholic bishops and Williams about the decision.

St. Luke’s Anglican Church in La Crescenta is being returned Monday to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. A judge ordered the move, and the state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.

The congregation voted to leave the national church three years ago. The diocese sued to retain the property.

In his sermon Sunday, the Rev. Rob Holman said fighting for principles is more important than a building.

The congregation has rented a chapel in Glendale and joined the new Anglican Church in North America, which was founded last year by breakaway Episcopal parishes.

The Episcopal General Convention also underscored the church’s desire to remain a full member of the global Anglican Communion. But the actions at the national assembly are likely to damage the already strained relations within the fellowship.

Delegates voted earlier this week to effectively drop a pledge that they would act with “restraint” when considering any more openly gay candidates for bishop.

The Episcopal gay advocacy group Integrity said the church “turned an important corner” with the vote.

But the Rev. Dan Martins of the Dioces of Northern Indiana said he feared the measure would widen the rift with overseas Anglicans.

“On this day, my church is covering itself in shame, and I am profoundly sorry for it,” he said.

The Episcopal Church caused an uproar among Anglicans in 2003 by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Anglican spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has struggled ever since to keep the communion unified.

Anglican leaders had pressed Episcopalians for a moratorium on electing more gay bishops, and asked the church not to develop an official prayer for same-gender couples.

But the measure adopted Friday noted the growing number of U.S. states that allow gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships, and gave bishops in those regions discretion to provide a “generous pastoral response” to couples in local parishes.

The resolution also authorized a church commission to “collect and develop theological resources and liturgies” for blessing same-gender relationships for consideration at the next national convention in 2012. Many dioceses already allow clergy to bless same-sex couples, but there is no liturgy for the ceremonies in the denomination’s Book of Prayer.

Williams attended the opening days of the convention and told delegates, “I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart.”

Back in England, he has said only that he regrets the convention’s decision to lift the de facto moratorium on gay bishops. The archbishop of Canterbury does not have the authority to force a compromise on the issue because each Anglican province is independently governed.

The 77 million-member communion is the third-largest grouping of churches worldwide, behind Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, head of the Episcopal Church, sent Williams a letter, released publicly Friday, saying that the actions of the convention were not meant to offend and did not mean that all – or any – diocese would necessarily consecrate a gay bishop.

“We remain keenly aware of the concerns and sensibilities of our brothers and sisters in other churches across the communion,” she wrote. “We believe also that the honesty reflected in this resolution is essential if we are to live into the deep communion that we all profess and earnestly desire.”

David Steinmetz, an expert in Christian history at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C., said Anglicanism has always accommodated different views, but “the question now is whether or not they can find enough things to agree about so they can still disagree about other things and stay in the family.”

Last month, breakaway Episcopal conservatives and other like-minded traditionalists formed a rival national province to the Episcopal Church called the Anglican Church in North America.

The new body includes four seceding Episcopal dioceses and is supported by several overseas Anglican leaders who have broken ties with the Episcopal Church.

Some traditional Episcopal bishops have stayed with the denomination, but many predicted the latest votes would break the Anglican fellowship. At the end of the convention, about 25 bishops with more conservative Bible views signed a statement that they “reaffirm our commitment to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this church has received them.”

Delegates wrapped up the meeting with an emotional debate before over same-sex blessings, then sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” while the votes were counted.

The Rev. Ian Douglas, a scholar of Anglicanism at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., said he realized the resolution could “cause turmoil,” but he believed the church was “being faithful to God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.”

“Some will want to cast this decision as a choice between our faithfulness to God and our place in the Anglican Communion. But I will not join in,” he said. “I pray that our service to God’s mission of reconciliation will keep us together.”

George Wing, a theological conservative and delegate from the Diocese of Colorado, said he worries that the church’s liberal direction has caused active churchgoers to leave.

“The problem is, the most dedicated of the young people are evangelicals. They’re gone, and they’re not coming back,” Wing said.

The bishops voted 104-30 at the Episcopal General Convention to “collect and develop theological resources and liturgies” for blessing same-gender relationships, which would be considered at the next national meeting in 2012.

The resolution notes the growing number of states that allow gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships, and gave bishops in those regions discretion to provide a “generous pastoral response” to couples in local parishes.

Many Episcopal dioceses already allow clergy to bless same-sex couples but there is no official liturgy for the ceremonies in the denomination’s Book of Prayer. The measure still needs the approval of the lay people and priest delegates at the assembly, which ends Friday.

“We certainly feel a deep need to be able to proclaim the love of God in the midst of a changing reality,” said Suffragan Bishop James Curry of the Diocese of Connecticut, one of six states that are legalizing same-gender marriage.

A day earlier, the convention had declared gays and lesbians eligible for “any ordained ministry,” even though Anglican leaders had sought a clear moratorium on consecrating another gay bishop. The vote effectively lifted a self-imposed Episcopal pledge from three years ago to use “restraint” in approving another bishop in a same-sex relationship.

The Episcopal Church, which is the Anglican body in the U.S., caused an uproar in 2003 by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

To calm tensions and keep the global Anglican Communion together, Anglican leaders five years ago pressed Episcopalians for a temporary ban on electing gay bishops, and asked that the church refrain from developing an official prayer service for same-sex couples.

At the start of the convention last week, the Anglican spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, told delegates, “I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart.”

A spokeswoman for Williams said Wednesday that he would not comment.

The 77 million-member communion is the third-largest grouping of churches worldwide, behind Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches.

Most overseas Anglicans believe Scripture bars same-sex relationships and disagree with how liberals interpret the Bible on a wide range of issues. Liberal Anglicans emphasize biblical social justice teachings and believe their fellowship can contain conflicting views.

Last month, breakaway Episcopal conservatives and other like-minded traditionalists formed a rival national province to the Episcopal Church called the Anglican Church in North America.

The new body includes four seceding Episcopal dioceses and is supported by several overseas Anglican leaders who have broken ties with the Episcopal Church.

Episcopal conservatives who have stayed with the denomination lamented the latest votes and predicted the already splintering Anglican fellowship would fracture.

“For many, this is the final straw with members of the wider Anglican Communion,” said Bishop William Love of Albany, N.Y. “It’s breaking my heart to see the church destroy itself in the manner in which we seem to be doing.”

“It’s important that we recognize the equal stature of all Christians in the church so that we model that type of inclusivity in civil society,” Bishop Marc Andrus of the Diocese of California said.

This is the first national convention of the Episcopal Church in three years. The Episcopal Church, with 2.1 million members, is the U.S. branch of the global Anglican communion, which has 77 million members, many of them religious conservatives in Africa. The church has been divided over the consecration of gay bishops since the ordination of Rev. Gene Robinson in 2003.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has tried to hold the fragile communion together by getting churches to observe a voluntary moratorium on consecrating another openly gay bishop and developing prayers for same-sex unions. But many fear a split is inevitable.

“If we are not extremely careful at this convention, we could find ourselves outside the Anglican Communion, and that would be a tragedy for all of us,” Bishop William Love of Albany, N.Y., said. “My fear is that the Episcopal Church destroys itself.”

“What we have to work against is countless centuries of tradition which has judged homosexual people to be an abomination before God,” said Robinson, the Episcopal church’s only openly gay bishop.

Robinson sat in the front row of the gallery in the state House of Representatives last week, hands clasped at times, praying for lawmakers to push a little green button that indicates a “yes” vote.

In the end, there were 198 green lights to legalize gay marriage, and 176 red ones.

The gallery erupted and Robinson was caught up in a sea of hugs, which continued as he walked through the Statehouse to a rally outside.

“There are a lot of people standing here who, when we grew up, could not have imagined this,” Robinson said. “You can’t imagine something that is simply impossible. It’s happened, in our lifetimes.”

But Robinson, who was elected bishop six years ago this month, said more must happen to change attitudes in churches.

“The law says that every church gets to choose what it will do,” he said, meaning they can refuse to perform gay marriages. Robinson approves, saying the law protects religious freedom.

“But now we need to be working in our religious institutions to come to this new place about what is God’s will about this,” Robinson said. “I think a close look at that will reveal God loves all of God’s children, not just certain ones, and that’s the harder work.”

The law spells out that churches, their employees and religious groups cannot be forced to officiate at gay marriages or provide other services.

They were key elements pushed by Gov. John Lynch to win his approval.

But gay marriage opponents said the constitution already provides those protections to religious institutions. They argued the protections should be expanded to cover commercial vendors, such as photographers and caterers. That drew fire from gay marriage supporters who said the state’s anti-discrimination laws would be unraveled by allowing people to discriminate at will.

The law goes into effect in January.

In a speech in Washington last month, Robinson said despite recent momentum, the struggle continues for gay rights supporters in churches.

“Religion in general still presents the greatest obstacles we face in full equality,” he said. “Ninety-five percent of the oppression that we know in our lives comes from the religious community.”

Robinson’s election in 2003 caused a rift in the global Anglican Communion, intensifying a long-running debate over what Anglicans should believe about salvation, sexuality and other issues. The Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S., is more liberal than growing Anglican churches in Africa and elsewhere.

Meeting in Egypt in February, Anglican leaders requested their churches continue a temporary ban – enacted after Robinson’s election – on consecrating openly gay bishops and writing prayers for gay unions.

New Hampshire legalized civil unions for gay couples last year, but in a pastoral letter, Robinson told Episcopal clergy he would prefer they not preside at civil unions, instead, presiding over a blessing, afterward.

“It is my hope that we will be able to provide for the private, pastoral needs of the faithful people entrusted to our care, while causing a minimum of further furor in the Church,” he wrote in February, 2008, a month after civil unions became legal in the state.

But he said he would be “personally and institutionally supportive” of clergy who did not want to bless a civil union.

Robinson and his partner of 20 years were united in a civil union a year ago this month.

He said legislators recognized that gay marriage is more than a policy question and hopes churches will do the same.

“A lot of New Hampshire families have come to know people in their families who are gay, co-workers, former classmates and that’s what really made this difference. We are no longer talking about an issue,” he said. “We are talking about people.”