Gay Catholics have welcomed the decisions of the Charity Commissioners and the Charities Tribunal to refuse three Catholic adoption agencies permission to change their charitable objects in order to be able to refuse gay couples.

In a London lecture, Catholic Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has claimed that UK anti-discrimination legislation is being used to limit freedom of religion “in unacceptable ways”.

There are serious confusions and contradictions in the position being put forward by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster over his claim that Catholic adoption agencies will be forced to close if the Equalities Act, due to come into force in April 2007, prohibits them from refusing homosexual couples.

The row over Catholic Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor's letter to the Prime Minister and Cabinet ‚Ä' which says that his church's adoption agencies will close if an exemption from equalities rules about lesbian and gay adoptees is not granted ‚Ä' showed no sign of dissipating today.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy O'Connor, spiritual head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has said that up to twelve Catholic adoption agencies which handle some of the most vulnerable cases may be closed if they are not given an exemption under new equalities legislation ‚Ä' which seeks to give equal access and fair treatment to lesbian and gay people in the provision of goods and services.