The Archbishop of Canterbury has come under fire again - this time for claiming gay relationships were “comparable to marriage”.

In private letters seen exclusively by a national newspaper, Dr Rowan Williams criticises traditional Anglican teaching on homosexuality as sinful.

~ Read Dr Williams' letters here >>>

He wrote: "The Bible does not address the matter of appropriate behaviour for those who are, for whatever reason, homosexual by instinct or nature.

"By the end of the 80s I had definitely come to the conclusion that scripture was not dealing with the predicament of persons whom we should recognise as homosexual by nature.

"I concluded that an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage, if and only if it had about it the same character of absolute covenanted faithfulness."

He made the comments in a letter written shortly before he became Archbishop of Canterbury.

A Lambeth Palace spokesman did not deny the Archbishop’s comments but remained tightlipped about his position.

She said: “He always said homosexual people need to be treated with love and respect and need to be listened to.

“He maintains his position that when he teaches as a bishop he teaches what the church teaches.”

Dr Williams has recently been criticised for failing to discipline the US Episcopal Church over the consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003.