Women should be allowed to become bishops in the Church of England to “humanise” the priesthood, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
Dr Rowan Williams warned the Church hierarchy to prepare for the “culture change” that would come with the “full inclusion” of women.
Removing the bar to women’s ordination as bishops would help reverse the “creeping bureaucratisation” and “box ticking” that too often undermines the work of the Church, Dr Williams suggested.
His comments came as reforms allowing women to become bishops came a step closer to passing into Church law.
The 44 individual dioceses have until mid-November to hold ballots among members of their local synods, or assemblies, on whether to support plan.
The reforms have already proven highly divisive, contributing to hundreds of worshippers and clerics, including five bishops, leaving the Church of England to become Roman Catholics this year.
More traditionalists would be certain to leave if the reforms came into force.
All 19 dioceses to have voted so far have overwhelmingly backed the reforms, after two more – Peterborough and the diocese of Ripon and Leeds – voted in favour of the plan on Saturday.