Vatican lends hand to Williams in battle to shore up Anglican unity

The Vatican has come to the aid of Rowan Williams, the head of the Anglican church, ahead of this year's Lambeth conference.

As the Archbishop of Canterbury arrived in Rome yesterday for a private meeting with the Pope, it was announced that Cardinal Ivan Dias, the Indian prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, would be among the speakers at this summer's event, which brings Anglican bishops together in London once every 10 years.

Rebel bishops, angry at Williams's acceptance of gay bishops, plan a breakaway conference in Jordan and Jerusalem, threatening the break-up of the Anglican Communion.

Dias has been touted as a possible future candidate for the papacy. Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, may also attend the Lambeth event.

"We expect someone from the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity to attend, as we have in the past," said a spokesman for the Anglican Communion office in London.

 See Vatican lends hand to Williams in battle to shore up Anglican unity
guardian.co.uk, UK -