The spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Dr Rowan Williams has issued a stern warning to the Church, saying that it faces a fundamental “rupture” over the issue of homosexuality in the Church.

|TOP|The comments came out on BBC1’s ‘The Heaven and Earth Show’, in which Dr Williams expressed some of his most pessimistic remarks so far as the Anglican Communion continues to be strained to breaking point over the issue.

The Archbishop of Canterbury told that any split could take decades to heal.

However, despite the warning the Communion still seems to be heading towards a daunting period in June, which is the date set by the majority in the Church to the liberal Episcopal Church of America (ECUSA) to reverse its approach on consecrating a gay bishop. If the ECUSA fails to reverse its decision then it is highly possible that the Church would be expelled from the worldwide body.

The crisis was instigated by the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson as Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003.

Many believe that Dr Williams’ is attempting to make a last minute plea to the American arm of the Communion to submit at its General Convention in Ohio.

|AD|A moratorium must be agreed to by the ECUSA, on future consecrations of gay clerics and the blessing of homosexual unions.

The outlook does not look good, however, as many parts of the ECUSA have already sought to pursue the controversial liberal agenda in the face of Dr Williams’ pleas.

The Diocese of California has even included two homosexual candidates in its shortlist of five for its next bishop, a move condemned by Dr Williams.

Dr Williams said, “If there is a rupture, it's going to be a more visible rupture, it is not going to settle down quietly to being a federation.”

“And I suppose my anxiety about it is that if the Communion is broken, we may be left with even less than a federation,” he added.