London, England - THE Archbishop of Canterbury last night said he could see no "theological objections" to a woman leading the Anglican Church.
Dr Rowan Williams also admitted many Christians were bigoted towards homosexuals.
The remarks threaten to reopen the divisive debate within the Anglican movement on the two issues which threaten to take the church to breaking point.
Asked by Melvyn Bragg in the ITV interview if he could see a time when a woman would be Archbishop of Canterbury, Mr Williams admitted he could.
"If the Church of England decides to ordain women as bishops then I think it would be difficult to restrict that," he said..
"While I might not see any theological objection I can see quite a lot of hurdles to be overcome."
On the subject of homosexuality, the Archbishop said the Bible clearly pointed to the sanctity of marriage for the expression of sexual relationships.
But he said there was pressure from some Christians to accept homosexual relationships have elements of the same qualities associated with marriage. There was "an awful lot" of bigotry about homosexuality in Christian circles.