For decades, the church has been divided over how to deal with LGBT issues and rights, and the House of Bishops is set to approve the final LLF document in March.

However it emerged on Tuesday during a Synod debate that little progress has since been made. The admission sparked frustration from all corners of the Church who share diametrically opposed views on LGBT rights.

Archbishop John Sentamu had previously seemed relaxed about it. In 2011 he was asked what he thought of the choices made by Prince William and Kate Middleton, who lived together on and off for seven years before they were married. He said he fully understood that some people want to, er, "test whether the milk is good before they buy the cow." But now, according to the new guidelines, he believes the royal couple were "falling short of God's purposes for human beings."

In their document, published in response to the introduction of mixed-sex civil partnerships, the House of Bishops said last week: "For Christians, marriage -- that is the lifelong union between a man and a woman, contracted with the making of vows -- remains the proper context for sexual activity."

The Civil Partnerships Act of 2005 was designed to imitate marriage: the Bishops point this out in paragraph 12 of their statement. At first, Government ministers were claiming that the then Bill was to remove hardships on such matters as visiting rights in hospitals, inheritance and security of tenancy for people living together.