650 Anglican bishops from around the world have gathered in Canterbury to attend the 14th 2008 Lambeth Conference, which will officially open this afternoon at 6PM with the first plenary welcome session. According to a note published by the Anglican Communion information service, "more than 75% of all Anglican bishops in the world have registered for the Conference, representing 36 out of the 38 provinces which form the Anglican Communion worldwide". In 1998, at the last Lambeth conference which was presided over by Archbishop George Carey, 749 bishops participated. At the same time as the bishops’ conference, the gathering of "wives" will take place as well: as usual, they will be greeted by the Archbishop’s wife, Jane William. The unprecedented thing will be that, amongst the 550 spouses participating this year, there will be also 10 husbands, which means that an equal number of women-bishops will be attending, who have been admitted to the episcopacy in a number of provinces of the Anglican Communion. Ten years ago, during the last Lambeth Conference in 1998, there were 11 women-bishops. The Episcopal ordination of women (after the latest green light given by the Church of England) and of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions: these issues risk causing a schism in the Anglican world, also following an "alternative" Conference which took place in Jerusalem last June. (To be continued)
