A vote by the Church of England's General Synod in favour of women bishops will be an "obstacle" to reconciliation with the Catholic Church, the Vatican says. The Church of England's General Synod voted in favour of consecrating women and against safeguards demanded by traditionalists opposed to the move.
A Church group will now draw up a code of practice to try to reassure critics.
However, Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity responded saying that "this decision will have consequences for dialogue, which until now had borne much fruit."Such a decision is a break with apostolic tradition maintained in all of the Churches in the first millennium, and is therefore a further obstacle for reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England."
A draft of the code will be put before the General Synod in February.
It may not go far enough to satisfy some 1,300 clergy who had threatened to leave the Church if certain concessions, including allowing male "super-bishops" to cater for those opposing the change, were not met.
A final vote on the issue of women bishops is still several years away. Further revisions to the Church's code of practice could happen in 2010 and later a majority of dioceses in England would have to agree to having women as bishops.
That would lead to a further vote by the General Synod in 2011 or 2012.
Following six hours of debate on Monday, which saw one bishop in tears, the Synod rejected a proposal for super-bishops and the traditionalists' preferred option of new dioceses for objectors.
During the debate at the University of York, the pressure group Women and the Church said any such compromises would create second class clergy and institutionalise division.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said he was deeply opposed to any system which would end up "structurally humiliating women who might be nominated to the episcopate."
The first women priests in the Church of England were ordained in 1994.Vatican Radio quotes the statement by Cardinal Kasper as saying "We have regretfully learned of the Church of England vote to pave the way for the introduction of legislation which will lead to the ordaining of women to the Episcopacy.
"The Catholic position on the issue was clearly expressed by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Such a decision signifies a breaking away from the apostolic tradition maintained by all of the Churches since the first millennium, and therefore is a further obstacle for the reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.
"This decision will have consequences on the future of dialogue, which had up until now born fruit, as Cardinal Kasper had clearly explained when he spoke on June 5 2006 to all of the bishops of the Church of England at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury," the statement said.
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