21 November 2012 Last updated at 10:02 ET

Women bishops: PM 'very sad' at Church of England rejection

David Cameron told the Commons the Church of England needed "a sharp prod"

David Cameron has said he is "very sad" that the Church of England rejected the introduction of women bishops.

But he said parliament had to "respect the individual institutions and the way they work".

On Tuesday 324 members of the synod voted for women bishops - but its voting rules meant the 122 votes against were enough to block it.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the Church had "lost a measure of credibility" over the decision.

Mr Cameron - who is a supporter of the change - told MPs: "I'm very sad about the way the vote went yesterday - and I'm particularly sad for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, because I know that he saw this as a major campaign that he wanted to achieve at the end of his excellent tenure of that office.

"I think it's important for the Church of England to be a modern church in touch with society, as it is today, and this was a key step they needed to take."

'Wilfully blind'

Earlier, Doctor Williams told the general synod that it could be seen as "wilfully blind" to modern trends and priorities.

He said: "We have, to put it very bluntly, a lot of explaining to do ...it seems that we are wilfully blind to some of the trends and priorities in that wider society."

The proposed legislation paving the way for women bishops needed to gain two-thirds majority support in each of the synod's three houses - bishops, clergy and laity - but fell short by six votes in the House of Laity.

Church rules state that the measure cannot be brought back before the synod "in the same form" during the current term, ending in 2015.

During Prime Minister's Questions Labour MP Ben Bradshaw asked Mr Cameron what parliament could do to "ensure that the overwhelming will of members of the Church of England, and of this country, is respected".

Mr Cameron responded: "I'll certainly look carefully at what he says. What I would say, though, is the Church has its own processes and own elections, hard for some of us to understand and we have to respect individual institutions and the decisions they make."

'Very dangerous moment'

Later, on the World at One on BBC Radio 4, Mr Bradshaw described the rejection of women bishops as a "very dangerous moment" for the Church.

He said: "The Church of England is established - it is actually answerable to parliament - and if the Church of England synod is not able to save itself on this issue then I think parliament does have a role.

"If the synod can't sort it out, we need to help them."

Mr Bradshaw said although it was not clear what parliament could do, there had been discussion as to whether the Church's exemption from equality legislation could be repealed.

The House of Laity is the largest element of the general synod and is made up of lay members of the Church elected by its 44 dioceses.

The votes were 44 for and three against with two abstentions in the House of Bishops, 148 for and 45 against in the House of Clergy, and 132 for and 74 against in the House of Laity.

Source : bbc[dot]co[dot]uk