The BBC is reporting this morning, that sources in the Church of England have confirmed that bishops have refused to back a change in teaching to allow priests to marry same-sex couples.
According to the BBC news website:
The Church of England’s bishops met on Tuesday to finalise their recommendations after five years of consultation and debate on the Church’s position on sexuality.
Their proposal will be debated at the Church’s equivalent of a parliament – the General Synod – next month.
BBC News spoke to several bishops present at the meeting who said the Church’s teaching that Holy Matrimony is only between one man and one woman would not change and would not be put to a vote.
It comes after years of debate over the issue.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in England and Wales since 2013. But when the law changed, the Church did not change its teaching.
In 2017, the Church of England began an extended consultation period called ‘Living in Love and Faith’.
In November last year, the Bishop of Oxford became the most senior Church of England bishop to publicly back a change in the Church’s teaching. Although a handful of others supported him, they remained in the minority.
The refusal to propose a vote on allowing same-sex marriage is likely to anger campaigners for change within the Church.
Some have already told BBC News they will ask the synod to strike out the bishops’ proposals next month.
