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.

A march is to take place in two months time, involving the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, to express repentance for the Church of England's complicity in the slave trade.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has expressed concern about the ‚Äúrecrimination and bitterness‚Äù that may accompany a formal split in the 77 million worldwide Anglican Communion ‚Ä' though he admits that ‚Äúit's not the worst thing in the world‚Äù.

A television documentary following British church leaders on a recent pre-Christmas 'pilgrimage of peace' to the Israel Palestine ‚Ä' and particularly Bethlehem, traditionally held to be the birthplace of Jesus ‚Ä' is due to be screened this weekend.

Welsh Labour MP Ann Clwyd, a long-term campaigner for human rights in Iraq, has said that Dr Rowan Williams did not do enough to get Saddam Hussein indicted for mass murder before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 ‚Ä' when he was Archbishop of Wales.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that the publication of the UK government's White Paper (formal legislative proposal) on replacement of the controversial Trident nuclear weapons programme should not be used to close down the debate - but to open it up around recognised issues of major concern.