Anglican leaders may be heading towards a consensus on the issue of homosexuality, in a controversy threatening to split their Church, a leading clergyman taking part in crisis talks in London.
"If I were to hazard a guess, I would say it's moving towards a consensus situation," the Archbishop of All Ireland, John Eames, said outside Lambeth Palace in central London, where the 37 Anglican Church leaders were meeting.
"What form that consensus will be won't become obvious, if it is to become obvious, until tomorrow," Eames said after emerging from seven hours of closed-door talks chaired by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
Williams, the spiritual head of the Church's 70 million Anglican faithful, called the two-day meeting to deal with a crisis triggered by the confirmation in August of openly gay cleric Gene Robinson as bishop of the US state of New Hampshire.
That move, along with a Canadian diocese's recognition of same-sex marriages, is unacceptable to many Anglican conservatives, especially in developing countries, who insist it goes against the teachings of the Bible.
Amid fears of a schism, the London summit has seen liberal religious leaders from Western nations come up against churchmen from developing countries, many of whom stick to the traditional view that homosexuality is a sin.
Eames insisted there was "a tremendous anxiety" to maintain "cooperation and the common faith" among Anglicans.
Williams was allowing each primate to speak in turn about Robinson's appointment in what Eames described as a meeting full of "openess, frankness and honesty".
"The next stage is to reflect on what we have heard from the various provinces," Eames said.
Earlier as the meeting got underway, the liberal Archbishop of Cape Town, Njonggonkulu Ndungane, called for a commission to be set up to look into the issue of gays in the clergy.
"I think what will come out of this meeting, what I hope for, is that it might set up a commission ... which will enable us to handle this issue and how we can live together in creative diversity," Ndungane said.
Up to 20 primates from developing countries attending the conference met in London Tuesday to plot tactics, despite calls from Williams for an absence of partisanship, the Guardian newspaper said Wednesday.
When consecrated next month, Robinson, a divorced father-of-two who has lived with his lover for 13 years, is to become Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop.
Traditionalist leaders including Archbishop of Nigeria Peter Akinola, head of the world's largest Anglican community, have suggested Robinson's appointment would split the Church.
A group of 24 conservative US bishops threatened to leave the Church if he was consecrated as bishop.
An official statement about the meeting's outcome was not expected until late on Thursday.
Primates in the Anglican Church head autonomous provinces -- including the Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Pakistan Uganda and the United States -- which make up the Anglican Communion.
Williams, who was enthroned in February this year, is known for his liberal views and his support in principle for the appointment of gay clergy.