London, England - An open letter attacking the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, yesterday rebounded on the conservative Anglican leaders.
The letter, which accused Dr Williams of a failure of leadership over the issue of homosexuality, was purportedly backed by 17 primates, almost half of the leaders of the 38 provinces that make up the worldwide Church.
The letter suggested that Dr William's reluctance to impose the majority conservative line on the North Americans stemmed from his private sympathy with their views.
But yesterday a number of those whose names appeared as signatories of the letter when it was published on the conservative Global South website reacted angrily to its appearance.
A number said that they had seen a draft of the letter when they met earlier this month at a Global South conference in Egypt, but had expressed unease with its threatening tone.
Archbishop Gregory Venables, the primate of the Southern Cone in South America, said that he had not been consulted before the letter was issued. "A number of us are scandalised that a private letter should have been made public in this way," he said.
In a separate statement, the President Bishop of Jerusalem, the Most Rev Clive Handford, said that he had not given permission for his name to be associated with the letter.
At least two other conservative primates are understood to be furious that the letter was released without their knowledge.