Leap of Faith - Church of England Votes to Approve Women as Bishops

Sixteen years ago the Church of England began allowing the ordination of women as ministers, and earlier this week they took an even bigger leap of faith in voting to approve the appointment of women as bishops.

The decision does not sit well with the Vatican, which condemned the Church of England following its groundbreaking vote.

The Catholic News Agency reports that the response to the vote was far from universally positive:

Other signs of discord were also seen within the Anglican Communion as 1,300 clergy threatened to quit if the church decided to ordain women bishops and several British newspapers reported that some Anglican bishops were in talks with Rome to discuss joining the Catholic Church.

_{Australia's first bishop, Kay Goldsworthy, at her ordination on May 22, 2008
© Paul Kane/Getty Images}