The Church of England General Synod opened in central London yesterday with a wide-ranging address from the Archbishop of Canterbury on his recent Sharia law comments, the forthcoming Lambeth Conference and the situation in Zimbabwe.

In a clear display of support for their leader, Synod members broke into rapturous applause when Dr Rowan Williams entered the assembly hall to open three and a half days of debate and Church legislating.

Dr Williams began his address by apologising for any distress that might have been caused by "unclarity" or a "misleading choice of words" in a lecture he gave at the Royal Courts of Justice on religious rights and the accommodation of aspects of Sharia law in the British legal system last Thursday.

He stopped short of retracting his comments, however.

"I believe quite strongly that it is not inappropriate for a pastor of the Church of England to address issues around the perceived concerns of other religious communities and to try and bring them into better public focus," he told Synod - although the Archbishop later conceded that his efforts in this instance had been "clumsily deployed".

The Archbishop recommended that Christians and people of other faiths come together to reflect further on issues of faith and law before turning to the original agenda for his Synod address, the Lambeth Conference taking place in July and the situation in Zimbabwe.

Following the public launch of the Lambeth Conference programme last month, the Archbishop said that the conference aimed "both to address the major issues and to refresh and inspire those who will attend".

"The twofold focus is equipping bishops for leadership and strengthening the identity and confidence of the communion," he told Synod.

The 10-yearly conference of senior Anglican clergy will take place this July amid serious divisions over homosexuality.

He continued, "The primary need will be to get to know each other sufficiently well to confront the divisive matters that are around, and so there will be a larger number of slightly smaller groups."

One of the key debates this week will take place on the draft Anglican Covenant, issued a few weeks ago by the Anglican Covenant Design Group after a meeting in London.

The document attempts to uphold the autonomy of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion whilst at the same time asking for their voluntary commitment to a process of joined-up deliberation whenever disputes occur over contentious issues.

A number of conservative clergy have already announced that they will not be attending the Lambeth Conference but instead be heading to Jerusalem for their own gathering to hash out a plan for the future of the Anglican Communion.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola and Australia's Archbishop Peter Jensen are among those who have confirmed their attendance at the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in the weeks running up to the Lambeth Conference.

Some conservatives in the 70 million-strong Anglican Communion are upset over the attendance of a number of liberal clergy at Lambeth, including the leadership of the US Episcopal Church, which has attempted to embrace fully homosexuality within the Church in recent years.

The Archbishop told Synod, "I respect the consciences of those who have said they do not feel able to attend because there will be those present who have in their view acted against the disciplinary and doctrinal consensus of the communion.

"Needless to say, I regret such a decision, since I believe we should be seeking God's mind for the Communion in prayer and study together."

He said that the decision of some to remain absent from the conference only showed the deep differences over theology and ethics "that have so strained our connections".

Dr Williams continued: "It also reflects, uncomfortably for us, some of the legacy of hurt that is felt by some of our provinces at what is experienced as patronising or manipulative or insensitive actions and attitudes on the part of many of the churches of the 'West' or 'North' - not only the Episcopal Church in the USA, but us as well.

"That's hard to hear, but we have to hear it and to offer apologies and seek for better understanding.

"Lambeth can't be the end of the story; and if at Lambeth we try to do proper justice to the idea of a Covenant, it must be in the light of that need for a more serious and profound mutuality between us all."

Turning the spotlight on the social, political and economic chaos in Zimbabwe, Dr Williams said that Robert Mugabe's regime had "fallen victim to its own incompetence, corruption and self-delusion".

He also said that it had been much harder for people in Britain to know how to respond to the needs of Zimbabwe "for fear of simply reinforcing stereotypes of colonial patronage or misunderstanding".

Even turning to the church in Zimbabwe had not been straightforward, he added, referring to the former Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, who was deposed after breaking away from the legitimate Anglican Province of Central Africa to set up his own province.

The Bishop is closely aligned with Mugabe and an official ruling means that only churches under Bishop Kunonga may legally hold services, while churches that have chosen to align with the new acting Bishop of Harare, the Rt Rev Sebastian Bakare, have suffered oppression and raids by Zimbabwean police.

Bishop Bakare, who was present at the Synod on Monday, was visibly moved when Synod members broke into a lengthy applause as a gesture of solidarity with the bishop and the Church in Zimbabwe.

"Sebastian, we want to assure you of our profound support for you and our gratitude for your courage and integrity," said the Archbishop of Canterbury. "Please let all our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe know how much they are in our prayers and thoughts here.

"And I am conscious too that there are many Zimbabweans who have fled to the UK, who sometimes feel almost as vulnerable in the land where they have taken refuge as they did back home; I want to assure them also of our welcome and sympathy as a Church."

Major debates at the General Synod will take place later in the week on mental health, casinos, detention without charge, Crown appointments and Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue.