THE Archbishop of Kenya, Dr Eliud Wabukala, has rebuked the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for supporting same-sex civil partnerships. This contradicted "historic biblical teaching", he said.

In a message to members of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) earlier this month, Dr Wabukala, chairman of the GAFCON Primates' Council, wrote that the C of E "seems to be advancing along the same path" as the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada, which "continue to promote a false gospel and yet . . . are still received as in good standing by the Archbishop of Canterbury".

Dr Wabukala noted that, during debates in the House of Lords on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, Archbishop Welby and Dr Sentamu had defended marriage, but "appeared at the same time to approve of same-sex civil partnerships . . . in contradiction to the historic biblical teaching on human sexuality reaffirmed by the 1998 Lambeth Conference. In these circumstances, attempts to achieve unity based merely on common humanitarianism and dialogue, without repentance, sacrifice the transforming power of the gospel."

Speaking in the House of Lords last month, during the Second Reading of the Bill, Archbishop Welby said that the introduction of same-sex marriage would see marriage "abolished, redefined, and recreated"; but he also said he would have supported the introduction of a new institution "for same-gender relationships" ( News, 7 June).

Dr Sentamu, speaking in the Lords during the Bill's Committee stage, said that the introduction of civil partnerships had "remedied certain concrete difficulties and disadvantages" ( News, 21 June).

In an interview with the Church Times earlier this year, Archbishop Welby said of the FCA and GAFCON: "We've got to find good ways of listening to what they have to say, and them listening to what others have to say. I mean, you don't have to agree to be in the same Church - we very seldom do agree in the same Church - but you have to find ways in which we continue to love each other" ( Features 22 March).

Archbishop Welby held a private meeting with the Most Revd Robert Duncan, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, on 31 May at Lambeth Palace.