The Anglican Church of America (ECUSA) is preparing for an unexpected back-down on the controversial issue of homosexuality, the Telegraph has reported.

The ECUSA has been at the centre of the divisive issue for the past three years since it consecrated the Anglican Church’s first openly gay bishops. Since then, the issue has been openly debated across the worldwide Communion, and has left the Church body at a near-schism.

International pressure has increased greatly during this time for the liberal leaders of the ECUSA to back down, and it is thought that a conference in June will see a more compromising affair than has previously been witnessed.

Worldwide press reports have caught hold of leaked information from a private meeting of bishops in North Carolina, USA last week, and these have suggested that the American arm of the Church will “repent” for the problems they have caused in consecrating Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire.