George Carey, 103rd archbishop of Canterbury, wants the world's 70 million Anglicans to enter the next century "in vibrant and vigorous form," but his evangelical Christianity has alarmed both radicals and conservatives.
Carey, 55, enthroned Friday as spiritual head of the Church of England founded 450 years ago when King Henry VIII rejected papal authority, likens it to "an elderly lady, muttering ancient platitudes through toothless gums."In a radical vein, Carey told the Reader's Digest magazine it was heresy to oppose the ordination of women and had to retract.
A hard-liner on morals, he outraged gay activists by saying practicing homosexuality was a scandal.