Katharine Jefferts Schori, the sometimes embattled Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States, which is facing attacks by hard-liners in its ranks and through a breakaway Anglican network supported by the Church of Nigeria, has issued a Christmas message which contrasts the vulnerability of God's ways with earthly power-mongering.

The future of the 77 million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion was complicated further last night (16 December 2006) with the announcement that two large evangelical congregations in the US have voted to break away from the Episcopal Church, primarily because of its decision three years ago to consecrate a gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.