Jeremy Pemberton had his permission to officiate as a priest withdrawn after marrying his partner Laurence in a civil ceremony. He was refused a licence to take up a new chaplaincy post with Sherwood NHS. This meant the job offer was withdrawn.

The decisions, in line with the Church of England's current position on the issue, were taken by the acting Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, Richard Inwood, who is under the authority of Dr Sentamu.

Archbishop Welby, who is also primate of the Church of England, stressed that, "The next Lambeth Conference needs to be called collegially by the primates, together with real ownership of the agenda and a real sense of what we're trying to do with such a large effort, such cost. So when we meet as primates, which I hope we will do...with reasonable notice after the end of [the visits to all the primates], then we will decide together on the details."

He laments that the spiritual culture of the West is impoverished and primitive. "People find it extraordinarily difficult to be serious about angels or discarnate energies."

Canon David Porter, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Director of Reconciliation, today warned Bishops ahead of this week’s meeting that a final decision cannot be stalled forever.

He said: “For me the ideal outcome will be that people will be able to articulate with a measure of empathy the views of others that they don’t agree with.

“When we get to the process beyond the shared conversations, decisions will have to be made, because we can’t leave it in this space forever.